
Class 
Book- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




.^ 



't:K.S,lTEWTORE. 



HISTORY 

OF 

THE ADMINISTRATION 

OP 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN: 

INCLUDING HIS 

SPEECHES, LETTEKS, ADDEESSES, PEOCLAMATIONS, 
AND MESSAGES. 

WITH A rEELIMINART SKETCH OF HIS ^fFE. ' =" ^7?^ 






"k^-- '''-irrz,^ 



HENRY J. RAYliOND. 



NEW YORK: 

j: c. derby & ]S". c. miller, 

NO. 5. SPRUCE STREET. 
, 1864. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISM, 

By DERBY & MILLER, 

In the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court of the United States for tne 
Southern District of New York. 



^^2H^ 



0. A. ALTORt), BTEREOTYPKB AKD PKINTEB. 






PREFACE 



This volume does not profess to "be, in any exact 
and important sense,. a History of the Administra- 
tion of President LiisrcoLF. Such a work would 
require access to sources of information which 
cannot, from the nature of the case, be open to the 
public for many years to come. 

Its object is merely to collect and collate the 
speeches, messages, proclamations, and other doc- 
uments in which the President has embodied, from 
\une to time, his seutunents on the affiiii's of tlie 
.-ountry, and set forth the motives which have 
prompted the successive acts of his Administration. 
In the narrative which accompanies these papers 
the writer has sought only to record the cii'cum- 
stances essential to an appreciation of the papers 
themselves, and not by any means to give a com- 
plete history of the events by which this momen- 
tous period in the career of our country has been 
i.iarked. 



If the public sliall find in tliis work any import- 
ant aid in foi-miug a judgment of the policy by 
which President Lincoln is seeking to carry the 
Nation through the crisis of a civil war, its pur- 
pose will have been accomplished. 

H. J. K 

New York, May 5, 18G4. 



CONTENTS. 



FAQE 

Sketch of the Life of Abraham Lincoln 13 

CHAPTER L 

From the Election, November 6, 1860, to the Inauguration, Murch 

4, 1861 53 

CHAPTER IL 
From Springfield to "Washin;?ton 78 

CHAPTER IIL 
From the Inauguration to the Meeting of Congress Ill 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Extra Session of Congress, and the Military Events of the 

Summer of 18G1 138 

CHAPTER V. 

The Regular Session of Congress, December, 1861. — The Message. 

— Debates, etc 165 

CHAPTER YL 

The Mihtnry Administration of 1862. — The President and General 

McClellan 220 

CHAPTER YIL 

The Congressional Session of 1862-63. — Message of the President, 

and General Action of the Session 308 



6 CONTEXTS. 

PAGB 

CHAPTER Vin. 
Arbitrary Arrests. — The Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Cor- 
pus 339 

CHAPTER IX. 

Military Events of 1SG3. — The Rebel Defeat at Gettysburg. — Fall 

of Vicksburg and Port Hudson 376 

CHAPTER X. 
Political Morements m Missouri. — The State Elections of 1863 392 

CHAPTER XL 

The Congress of 1863-'64. — Message of the President. — Action of 

the Session > 416 

CHAPTER XII. 

Movements towards Reconstruction. — The Rebellion and Labor. — 
The President on Benevolent Associations. — ^Advancing Ac- 
tion concerning the Negro Race 449 

APPENDIX. 

General Scott and General McClellan 487 

A Draft urged by General McClellan 490 

The President's Suggestion for an Advance, in Deeember, 1861. . . . 491 

The Position of Kentucky 492 

The President to General McClellan 494 

Index 495 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM mCOLN. 



Abraham Lincoln was born on the 12tli of Feb- 
ruary, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. His early 
life, like that of most of the great men whom our 
country has produced, was spent in poverty and in 
toil. At seven years of age he was sent to school to 
a Mr. Hazel, carrying with him an old copy of Dil- 
worth's Spelling Book, one of the three books that 
formed the family library. His father keenly felt the 
disadvantages arising from his own lack of education, 
and determined, in spite of difficulties almost incon- 
ceivable, to give his son better facilities for study than 
he had himself enjoyed. His mother was a Christian 
woman, and desired earnestly that he should learn to 
read the Bible. 

Thomas Lincoln, his father, finding a life in a Slave 
State a most unsatisfactory one for himself, and pre- 
senting only the prospect of a hopeless struggle in the 
future for his children, determined upon removal, and 
when Abraham was in the eighth 3-ear of his age, the 
plan was carried into execution. The old home was 
sold, their small stock of valuables placed upon a raft, 
and the little family took its way to a new home in 
the wilds of Indiana, where free labor would have no 
competition with slave labor, and the poor white man 



14 LIFE OF ABKAHA:M 1.1XC0LN. 

might hope that in time his childi'en could take an 
honorable position, won by industry and careful econo- 
my. The place of their destination was Spencer county, 
Indiana. For the last few miles they were obliged to 
cut their road as they went on. " With the resolution 
of veteran pioneers they toiled, sometimes being able 
to pick their way for a long distance without chopping, 
and then coming to a standstill in consequence of dense 
forests. Suffice it to say, that they were obliged to cut 
a road so much of the way that several days were em- 
ployed in going eighteen miles. It was a difficult, 
wearisome, trying journey, and Mr. Lincoln often said, 
that be never passed through a harder experience than 
he did in going from Thompson's Ferry to Spencer 
county, Indiana." 

Thus, before he was eight years old, Abraham Lin- 
coln began the serious business of life. Their cabin 
was built of logs, and even the aid of such a mere 
child was of account in the wilderness where they now 
f^und themselves, after seven days of weary travel. 
Their neighbors, none of whom lived nearer than two 
or three miles, welcomed the strangers, and lent a hand 
towards building the rude dwelling in which the future 
President lay down, after fatiguing but healthful toil, 
to dream the dreams of childhood, undisturbed by 
thoughts of the future. 

In this log-house, consisting of a room below and a 
room above, furnished by Thomas Lincoln and his 
son's own hands, Abraham passed the next twelve 
years of his life. So long as his mother lived, she 
assisted him in learning to read, and before her death, 
which occurred when he was ten years of age, she had 



lAFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ] ,5 

the satisfaction of seeing him read that Book which ho 
has never since neglected. 

After a while he learned to write. This was an 
accomplishment which some of the friendly neighbors 
thought unnecessary, but his father quietly persisted, 
and the boy was set down as a prodigy when he wrote 
to an old friend of his mother's, a travelling preacher, 
and begged him to come and preach a sermon over his 
mother's grave. Three months after, Parson Elkins 
came, and friends assembled, a year after her death, to 
pay a last tribute of respect to one universally beloved 
and respected. Her son's share in securing the pres- 
ence of the clergyman was not unmentioned, and Abra- 
ham soon found himself called upon to write letters for 
his neighbors. 

His father married a second time a Mrs. Sally John- 
ston, who proved an excellent mother to her step-son, 
and who now survives to take her share of the credit 
to which she is entitled for her faithful care. In the 
course of a year or two a Mr. Crawford, one of the set- 
tlers, opened a school in his own cabin, and Abraham's 
father embraced the opportunity to send him, in order 
that he might add some knowledge of arithmetic to 
his reading and writing. With buckskin clothes, a 
raccoon skin cap, and an old arithmetic which had 
been somewhere found for him, he commenced his 
studies in the "higher branches." His progress was 
rapid, and his perseverance and faithfulness won the 
interest and esteem of his teacher. 

In that thinly settled country a book was a great 
rarity, but whenever Mr. Lincoln heard of one he en- 
deavored to procure it for Abraham's perusal. In this 



16 ^ LIFE OF ABEAUAil LIXCOLN. 

way he became acquainted witK Banyan's Pilgrim's 
Progress, Esop's Fables, a Life of Henry Clay, and 
Weems's Life of Washington. The " hatchet" story of 
Washington, which has done more to make boys truth- 
ful than a hundred solemn exhortations, made a strong 
impression upon Abraham, and was one of those un- 
seen, gentle influences, which helped to form his charac- 
ter for integrity and honesty. Its effect may be traced 
in the following story, which bids fair to become as 
never-failing an accompaniment to a Life of Lincoln as 
the hatchet case to that of Washington. 

Mr. Crawford had lent him a copy of Eamsay's 
Life of Washington. During a severe storm Abra- 
ham improved his leisure by reading his book. One 
night he laid it down carefully, as he thought, and the 
next morning he found it soaked through ! The wind 
had changed, the storm had beaten in through a crack 
in the logs, and the appearance of the book was ruined. 
How could he face the owner under such circumstan- 
ces ? He had no money to oifer as a return, but he 
took the book, went directly to Mr. Crawford, showed 
him the irreparable injury, and frankly and honestly 
offered to work for him until he should be satisfied. 
Mr. Crawford accepted the offer and gave Abraham the 
book for his own, in return for three days' steady la- 
bor in "pulling fodder." His manliness and straight- 
forwardness won the esteem of the Crawfords, and 
indeed of all the neighborhood. 

At nineteen years of age he made a trip to New- 
Orleans, in company with a son of the owner of a flat- 
boat, who intrusted a valuable cargo to their care. On 
the way they were attacked by seven negroes, and their 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 

lives and property were in great danger, bnt owing to 
tlieir good use of the mascular force they liad acquired 
as backwoodsmen, they succeeded in driving off the in- 
vaders, and pushing their boat out into the stream in 
safety. The result of the voyage was satisfactory 
to the owner, and Abraham Lincoln gained, in addition 
to his ten dollars a month, a reputation as a youth of 
promising business talent. 

In 1830 Thomas Lincoln decided to make another 
change, and the log cabin which had been so long their 
home was deserted for a new one near Decatur, Illinois. 
This time the journey occupied fifteen days. Abraham 
was now twenty-one, but he did not begin his inde- 
pendent life until he had aided his father in settling 
his family, breaking the ground for corn, and making 
a rail fence around the farm. These rails have passed 
into song and story. " During the sitting of the Ke- 
publican State Convention at Decatur, a banner, at- 
tached to two of these rails, and bearing an appropriate 
inscription, was brought into the assemblage, and form- 
ally presented to that body, amid a scene of unparal- 
leled enthusiasm. After that they were in demand in 
every State of the Union in which free labor is honored, 
where they were borne in processions of the people, and 
hailed by hundreds of thousands of freemen, as a sym- 
bol of triumph, and as a glorious vindication of free- 
dom and of the rights and dignity of free labor. These, 
however, were far from being the first or only rails 
made by Lincoln. He was a practised hand at the 
business. Mr. Lincoln has now a cane made from one 
of the rails split by his own hands in boyhood." 
After the first winter in IHinois, which was one of un- 



18 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOIA". 

common severity, and required more than his father's 
care to keep the family in food, which was mostly ob- 
tained by hunting, Abraham Lincoln began life for 
himself Sometimes he hired .himself out as a farm- 
hand, sometimes his learning procured him a situation 
as clerk in a store. When the Black Hawk war broke 
out in 1832, he joined a volunteer company, and was 
made captain. "He was an efficient, faithful officer, 
watchful of his men, and prompt in the discharge of 
duty, and his courage and patriotism shrank from no 
dangers or hardships." Thus the Commander-in-Chief 
of our armies has not been without a bit of military 
experience — much moi^, in fact, than the most of our 
Brigadier-Grenerals had had before the commencement 
of the war. 

After his military life was over he looked about for 
something to do. He ran for the Legislature, but was 
beaten, though his own precinct gave him 277 votes 
out of 284 This was the only time he was ever 
beaten before the people. He bought a store and 
stock of goods on credit, and was appointed Post- 
master. The store proved unprofitable, and he sold 
out. AU this time he pursued his studies. He had 
already learned grammar, and he had now opportunities 
for more extensive reading. He wrote out a synopsis 
of every book he read, and thus fixed it in his memory. 

About this time he met John Calhoun, since Presi- 
dent of the Lecompton (Kansas) Constitutional Con- 
vention. He proposed to Lincoln to take up survey- 
ing, and himself aided in his studies. He had plenty 
of employment as a surveyor, and won a good reputa- 
tion in this new line of business. 



LIFE OF ABRAUAM LINCOLN. 19 

In 1834 lie was sent to the Legislature, and the po- 
litical life commenced which his countrymen's votes 
have since shown they fully appreciated. When the 
session of the Legislature was over, he set himself to the 
study of law in good earnest. In 1836 he obtained a 
law license, and in April, 1837, he removed to Spring- 
field and commenced the practice of the law in partner- 
ship with his friend and former colleague in the Legis- 
lature, Hon. John T. Stuart. 

One incident of his law practice we cannot refrain 
from narrating. When Lincoln first went out into the 
world to earn a living for himself, he worked for a Mr. 
Armstrong, of Petersburg, Menard Co., who, with his 
wife, took a great interest in him, lent him books to 
read, and, after the season for work was over, en- 
couraged him to remain with them until he should 
find something to " turn his hand to." They also 
hoped much from his influence over their son, an over- 
indulged and somewhat unruly boy. We cannot do 
better than to transcribe the remarks of the Cleveland 
Leader upon this interesting and touching incident. 

" Some few years since, the eldest son of Mr. Lincoln's old friend, 
Armstrong, the chief supporter of his widowed mother — the good old 
man having some time previously passed from earth, — was arrested on 
the charge of murder. A young man had been killed during a riotous 
melee, in the night time at a camp-meeting, and one of his associates 
stated that the death-wound was inflicted by young Armstrong. A pre- 
liminary examination was gone into, at which the accuser testified so 
positively, that there seemed no doubt of the guilt of the prisoner, and 
therefore he was held for trial. As is too often the case, the bloody 
act caused an undue degree of excitement in the public mind. Every 
improper incident in the life of the prisoner — each act which bore the 
least semblance of rowdyism — each schoolboy quarrel, — was suddenly 
remembered and magnified, until they pictured him as a fiend of the 



20 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

most horrible hue. As these rumors spread abroad they were received 
as gospel truth, and a feverish desire for vengeance seized upon the in- 
fatuated populace, -whilst only prison bars prevented a horrible death 
at the hands of a mob. The events were heralded in the county 
papers, painted in highest colors, accompanied by rejoicing over the 
certainty of punishment being meted out to the guilty party. The 
prisoner, overwhelmed by the circumstances under which he found 
himself placed, fell into a melancholy condition bordering on despair, 
and the widowed mother, looking through her tears, saw no cause for 
hope from earthly aid. 

" At this juncture, the widow received a letter from Mr. Lincoln, vol- 
unteering his services in an effort to save the youth from the impending 
stroke. Gladly was his aid accepted, although it seemed impossible for 
even his sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case ; but the heart 
of the attorney was in his work, and he set about it with a will that 
knew no such word as fail. Feehng that the poisoned condition of the 
public mind was such as to preclude the possibility of impanoUing an 
impartial jury in the court having jurisdiction, he procured a change of 
venue and a postponement of the trial. He then went studiously to 
work unraveUing the history of the case, and satisfied himself that his 
client was the victim of malice, and that the statements of the accuser 
were a tissue of falsehoods. 

" When the trial was called on, the prisoner, pale and emaciated, with 
hopelessness written on every feature, and accompanied by his half- 
hoping, half-despairing mother — whose only hope was in a mother's 
belief of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God she worshipped, 
and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or reward upon 
earth, had undertaken the cause — took his seat in the prisoners' box, 
and with a ' stony firmness' listened to the reading of the indictment. 
Lincoln sat quietly by, whilst the large auditory looked on him a3 
though wondering what he could say in defence of one whose guilt 
they regarded as certain. The examination of the witnesses for the 
State was begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial 
and positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale the prisoner be- 
yond the possibihty of extrication. The counsel for the defence pro- 
pounded but few questions, and those of a character which excited no 
uneasiness on the part of the prosecutor — merely, in most cases, requi- 
ring the main witnesses to be definite as to the time and place. "When 
the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few 
\vitnosso8 to remove some erroneous impressions in regard to the previ- 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 21 

ous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had 
never been known to commit a vicious act ; and to show that a greater 
degree of ill-feeUng existed between the accuser and the accused, than 
the accused and the deceased. 

'' The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening 
speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence 
pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear and moderate tone began 
his argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed the testimony, point- 
ing out the hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the statements of the 
principal witness. That which had seemed plain and plausible ho 
made to appear crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had stated 
that the affair took place at a certain hour in the evening, and that, 
by the aid of the brightly shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the 
death-blow with a slung-shot. Mr. Lincoln showed that at the hour 
referred to the moon had not yet appeared above the horizon, and 
consequently the whole tale was a fabrication. 

" An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in the 
minds of his auditors, and the verdict of ' not guilty' was at the end 
of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intel- 
lectual achievement. His whole being had for months been bound up 
in this work of gratitude and mercy, and as the lava of the over- 
charged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and 
burning words leaped forth from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He 
drew a picture of the perjurer so horrid and ghastly, that the accuser 
could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court- 
room, whilst the audience fancied they could see the brand upon his 
brow. Then in words of thrilling pathos Lincoln appealed to the jurors 
as fathers of some who might become fatherless, and as husbands of 
wives who might be widowed, to yield to no previous impressions, no 
LU-founded prejudice, but to do his client justice ; and as he alluded to 
the debt of gratitude which he owed the boy's sire, tears were seen to 
fall from many eyes unused to weep. 

" It was near night when he concluded, by saying that if justice was 
done — as he believed it would be — before the sun shoidd set, it would 
shine upon his client a free man. The jury retired, and the court ad- 
journed for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as tlie offi- 
cers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at the tea-table of their 
hotel, a messenger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. 
All repaired inamediately to the court-house, and whilst the prisoner 
was being brought from the jail, the court-room was filled to overflow- 



22 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

ing with citizens from the town. "When the prisoner and his mother 
entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. 
Tlie foreman of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court, 
delivered the verdict of ' Not Guilty I' The widow dropped into the 
arms of her son, who lifted her up and told her to look upon him as 
before, free and innocent. Then, with the words, ' Where is Mr. Lin- 
coln ?' he rushed across the room and grasped the hand of his dehverer, 
whilst his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes 
towards the West, where the sun still Imgered in view, and then, turn- 
ing to the youth, said, ' It is not yet sundown and you are free.' I 
confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears, and I turned 
from the affecting scene. As I cast a glanco behind, I saw Abraham 
Lincoln obeying the Divine injunction by comforting tlie widowed and 
fatherless." 

Mr. Lincoln was three times elected to the Legisla- 
ture ; and here commenced his political acquaintance 
with Stephen A. Douglas. He then remained six years 
in private life, devoting himself to the practice of the 
law, displaying remarkable ability, and gaining an 
enviable reputation. His interest in politics never sub- 
sided, and in 1844 he stumped the entire State of Illi- 
nois during the Presidential campaign. We have before 
mentioned that one of his earliest books was the " Life 
of Henry Clay," and his enthusiastic admiration for 
that Statesman, aroused in his boyhood, continued in 
full force during his life. In 1847 Mr. Lincoln took 
his scat in Congress, and was the only Whig representa- 
tive from Illinois, which had then seven members in 
Congress. 

The Congress of which Mr. Lincoln was a member, 
had before it questions of great importance and interest 
to the country. The Mexican War was then in pro- 
gress, and Congress had to deal with grave questions 
arising out of it, besides the many which were to be 



LIPE OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 23 

passed upon as to tlic means by which it was to be carried 
on. The irrepressible Slavery Question was there, also, 
in many of its Protean forms, in questions on the right 
of petition, in questions as to tlie District of Columbia, 
in many questions as to the Territories. 

Mr. Lincoln was charged by his enemies in later years, 
when political enmity was hunting sharply for material 
out of which to make political capital against him, with 
lack of patriotism, in that he voted against the war. 
The charge was sharply and clearly made by Judge 
Douglas, at the first of their joint discussions in the 
Senatorial contest of 1858. In his speech at Ottawa, 
he says of Mr. Lincoln, that " while in Congress he 
distinguished himself by his opposition to the Mexican 
war, taking the side of the coinraon enemy against his 
oivn country^ and when he returned home he found 
that the indignation of the people followed him every- 
where." 

No better answer can be given to this slander than 
that which Mr. Lincoln himself made in his reply to 
this speech. He says : " I was an old Whig, and when- 
ever the Democratic party tried to get me to vote that 
the war had been righteously begun by the President, 
I would not do it. But whenever they asked for any 
money or land-warrants or any thing to pay the soldiers 
there, during all that time I gave the same vote that 
Judge Douglas did. You can think as you please as 
to whether that was consistent. Such is the truth, and 
the Judge has a right to make all he can out of it. But 
when he, by a general charge conveys the idea that I 
withheld supplies from the soldiers who were fighting 
in the Mexican war, or did any thing else to hinder the 



24 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and altogether 
mistaken, as a consultation of the records will prove 
to him." 

"We should need no better proof of the falsity of this 
charge than this explicit denial. And it is a noticeable 
fact, that during all the remaining joint debates between 
Lincoln and Douglas, the latter never repeated the 
slander until the last half hour of the last debate, to 
which Mr. Lincoln had no opportunity of replying. 
Douglas's supporters, however, made vigorous use of 
the charge everywhere. The whole foundation of it, 
doubtless, was the fact which Mr. Lincoln states, that, 
whenever the Democrats tried to get him "to vote that 
the war had been righteously begun," he would not do 
it. He might have said more than this. He might 
have said, as was the fact, that he had been a thorn in 
their sides on this very point ; that he had not only re- 
fused to vote that the war was " righteously begun," 
but had made their efforts to falsify and conceal the 
facts, and deceive the people into the belief that it was 
"righteously begun," far more difficult. He showed, 
in fact, on this point the same clearness and directness, 
the same keen eye for the important point in a contro- 
versy, and the same tenacity in holding it fast and 
thwarting his opponent's utmost efforts to obscure it 
and cover it up, to draw attention to other points and 
raise Mse issues, which were the marked characteristics 
of his great controversy with Judge Douglas at a 
subsequent period of their political history. 

He saw that the strength of the position of the 
administration before the people in reference to the 
beginning of the war, was in the point, which they lost 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLK. 25 

no opportunity of reiterating, viz., that Mexico bad 
shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil. This 
position he believed to be false, and he accordingly 
attacked it in a resolution requesting the President to 
give the House information on that point ; which Pres- 
ident Polk would have found as difficult to dodge as 
Douglas found it to dodge the questions which Mr. 
Lincoln proposed to him. 

On the right of petition Mr. Lincoln, of course, held 
the right side, voting repeatedly against laying on the 
table without consideration petitions in favor of the 
abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, and 
against the slave-trade. 

On the question of abolishing Slavery in the District, 
he took rather a prominent part. A Mr. Gott had in- 
troduced a resolution directing the committee for the 
District to introduce a bill abolishing the slave-trade in 
the District. To this Mr. Lincoln moved an amend- 
ment instructing them to introduce a bill for the aboli- 
tion, not of the slave-trade, but of Slavery within the 
District. The bill which he proposed prevented any 
slave from ever being brought into the District, except 
in the case of officers of the Government of the United 
States, who might bring the necessary servants for 
themselves and their families while in the District on 
public business. It prevented any one then resident 
within the District, or thereafter born within it, from 
being held in Slavery without the District. It declared 
that all children of slave mothers born in the District 
after January 1, 1850, should be free, but should be 
reasonably supported and educated by the owners of 
their mothers, and that any owner of slaves in the Dis- 
2 



2G LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIN'COEX. 

trict miglit be paid tlieir value from tlie Treasury, and 
the slaves should thereupon be free ; and it provided 
also for the submission of the act to the people of the 
District for their acceptance or rejection. 

A bill was afterwards reported by the committee for- 
bidding the introduction of slaves into the District for 
sale or hire. This bill also Mr. Lincoln supported, but 
in vain. The time for the success of such measures, 
involving to an extent attacks upon Slavery, had not 
yet come. 

The question of the Territories came up in many 
ways. The Wilmot Proviso had made its first appear- 
ance in the previous session, in the August before, but 
it was repeatedly before this Congress also, when clForts 
were made to apply it to the territory which we pro- 
cured from Mexico, and to Oregon. On all occasions 
when it was before the House it was supported by Mr. 
Lincoln, and he stated during his contest with Judge 
Douglas that he had voted for it, "in one way and 
another, about forty times." He thus showed himself 
in 18-i7 the same friend of Freedom for the Territories 
which he was afterwards during the heats of the Kan- 
sas struggle. 

Another instance in which the Slavery Question was 
before the House was in the famous Pacheco case. 
This was a bill to reimburse the heirs of Antonio 
Pacheco for the value of a slave who was hired by a 
United States officer in Florida, but ran away and 
joined the Seminoles, and being taken in arms with 
them, was sent out of Florida with them when they 
were transported to the West. The bill was reported 
to the House by the Committee on Military Atfairs. 



LIFE OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 27 

This committee was composed of nine. Five of these 
were slaveholders, and these made the majority report. 
The others, not being slaveholders, reported against the 
bill. The ground taken by the majority was that 
slaves were regarded as property by the Constitution, 
and when taken for public service should be paid for 
as property. The principle involved in the bill, there- 
fore, was the same one which the slaveholders have 
sought in so many ways to maintain. As they sought 
afterwards to have it established by a decision of the 
Supreme Court, so now they sought to have it recog- 
nized by Congress, and Mr. Lincoln opposed it in Con- 
gress as heartily as he afterwards opposed it when it 
took the more covert, but no less dangerous shape of a 
judicial dictum. 

On other great questions which came before Congress 
Mr. Lincoln, being a Whig, took the ground which was 
held by the great body of his party. He believed in 
the right of Congress to make appropriations for the 
improvement of rivers and harbors. He was in favor 
of giving the public lands, not to speculators, but to 
actual occupants and cultivators, at as low rates as pos- 
sible ; and he was in favor of a protective tariff, and oi 
abolishing the franking privilege. 

In 1848 General Taylor was nominated for the Presi- 
dency ; Mr. Lincoln was a member of the convention, 
at Philadelphia, by which he was nominated, and can- 
vassed his own State in his favor. He was also in New 
England during the campaign, attended the State Con- 
vention of Massachusetts, and made a speech at New 
Bedford, which is still remembered. Illinois, however, 
cast her vote for General Cass. In 1849 Mr. Lincoln 



28 LIFE OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 

was the Whig candidate in Illinois for United States 
Senator, but without success — the Democrats having 
the control of the State, which thej retained until the 
conflict arising out of the Nebraska Bill, in 1854. 

During the intervening period Mr. Lincoln took no 
prominent part in politics, but remained at home in 
the practice of his profession. We may be sure, how- 
ever, that he watched closely the course of public 
events. He had fought Slavery often enough to know 
what it was, and what the animus of its supporters 
was. It is not, therefore, likely that he was taken very 
much by surprise when the Nebraska Bill was intro- 
duced, and the proposition was made by Stephen A. 
Douglas to repeal that very Missouri Compromise 
which he had declared to be "a sacred thing, which 
no ruthless hand would ever be reckless enough to 
disturb." 

The Nebraska Bill was passed May 22, 1854, and its 
passage gave new and increased force to the popular 
feeling in favor of freedom which the proposition to 
repeal the Missouri Compromise had excited, and 
everywhere the friends of freedom gathered themselves 
together and rallied round her banner, to meet the con- 
flict which was plainly now closely impending, forced 
upon the people by the grasping ambition of the slave- 
holders. The political campaign of that year in Illi- 
nois was one of the severest ever known. It was inten- 
sified by the fact that a United States Senator was to 
be chosen by the Legislature then to be elected, to fill 
the place of Shields, who had voted with Douglas in 
favor of the Nebraska Bill, 

Mr. Lincoln took a prominent part in this campaign. 



LIFE OF ABKAHAM LINCOLX. 29 

He met Judge Douglas before the people on two occa- 
sions, the only ones when the Judge would consent to 
such, a meeting. The first time was at the State Fair 
at Springfield, on October 4th. This was afterwards 
considered to have been the greatest event of the whole 
canvass. Mr. Lincoln opened the discussion, and in 
his clear and eloquent jet homely way exposed the 
tergiversations of which his opponent had been guilty, 
and the fallacy of his pretexts for his present course. 

Mr. Douglas had always claimed to have voted for 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise because he sus- 
tained the " gi'eat principle" of Popular Sovereignty, 
and desired that the inhabitants of Kansas and Ne- 
braska should govern themselves, as they were well 
able to do. The fallacy of drawing from these premi- 
ses the conclusion that they therefore should have the 
right to establish Slavery there was most clearly and 
conclusively exposed by Mr. Lincoln, so that no one 
could thereafter be misled by it, unless he was a willing 
dupe of pro-slavery sophistry. 

" My distinguished friend," said he, ." says it is an 
insult to the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska to sup- 
pose that they are not able to govern themselves. We 
must not slur over an argument of this kind because it 
happens to tickle the ear. It must be met and an- 
swered. I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Ne- 
braska is competent to govern himself, hut I deny 
his right to gooerii any other person ivithout that per- 
son'' s consent." 

The two opponents met again at Peoria. We believe 
it is universally admitted that on both of these occa- 
Bions Mr. Lincoln had decidedly the advantage. The 



30 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 

result of the election was the defeat of the Democrats 
and the election of anti-Nebraska men to the Legis- 
lature to secure the election of a United States Senator 
wlio would be true to freedom, if they could be brought 
to unite upon a candidate. Mr, Lincoln was naturally 
the candidate of those who were of Whig antecedents. 
Judge Trumbull was as naturally the candidate of 
some who had really come out from the Democratic 
party — though they still called themselves Free Demo- 
crats. 

There was danger, of course, in such a posture of 
affairs, and Mr. Lincoln, in that spirit of patriotism 
which he has always shown, by his own personal exer- 
tions secured the votes of his fi-iends for Judge Trum- 
bull, who was accordingly chosen Senator. The charge 
was afterwards made by the enemies of both that there 
had been in this matter a breach of faith on the part of 
Judge Trumbull, and that Mr, Lincoln had the right to 
feel and did feel aggrieved at the result. Mr. Lincoln 
himself, however, expressly denied in his speech at 
Charleston, Sept. 18, 1858, that there had been any 
such breach of faith. 

The pressure of the Slavery contest at last fully 
organized the Eepublican party, which held its first 
Convention for the nomination of President and Vice- 
President at Philadelphia on June 17, 1856. John C. 
Fremont was nominated for President and William L. 
Dayton for Vice President. Mr. Lincoln's name was 
prominent before the Convention for the latter office, 
and on the informal ballot he stood next to Mr. Dayton, 
receiving 110 votes. Mr. Lincoln's name headed the 
Republican Electoral ticket in Illinois, and he took an 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 31 

active part in the canvass, but the Democrats carried 
tlie State, though only by a plurality vote. 

We now come to the great Senatorial contest of 1858, 
which established Mr. Lincoln's reputation before the 
people of the whole country, not only as a very able 
debater and an eloquent orator, but also as a wise poli- 
tician, wise enough to hold firm to sound principles, 
and to yield nothing of them, even against the judg- 
ment of earnest friends. 

On the 4th of March, 1857, Mr. Buchanan had taken 
his seat in the Presidential chair. The struggle be- 
tween Freedom and Slavery for the possession of Kan- 
sas was at its height. A few days after his inaugura- 
tion, the Supreme Court rendered the Dred Scott 
decision, which was thought by the friends of Slavery 
to insure their victory by its holding the Missouri Com- 
promise to be unconstitutional, because the Constitution 
itself carried Slavery over all the Territories of the 
United States. In spite of this decision, the friends of 
Freedom in Kansas maintained their ground. The 
slaveholders, however, pushed forward their schemes, 
and in November, 1857, their Constitutional Conven- 
tion, held at Lecompton, adopted the infamous Lecomp- 
ton Constitution. The trick by which they submitted 
to the popular vote only a schedule on the Slavery 
question, instead of the whole Constitution, compelling 
every voter, however he voted upon this schedule, to 
vote for their Constitution, which fixed Slavery upon 
the State just as surely whether the schedule was 
adopted or not, will be well remembered, as well as the 
feeling which so villainous a scheme excited through- 
out the North. Judge Douglas had sustained the Dred 



32 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOL>f. 

Scott decision, but lie could not sustain this attempt to 
force upon the peojjle of Kansas a Constitution against 
their will. lie declared that he did not care himself 
whether the people voted the Slavery clause up or 
down, but he thought they ought to have the chance 
to vote for or against the Constitution itself. 

The Administration had made the measure their own, 
and this opposition of Douglas at once excited against him 
the active hostility of the slaveholders and their friends, 
wdth whom he had hitherto acted in concert. The 
bill was finally passed through Congress on Api-il 30th, 
1858, under what is known as the English bill, whereby 
the Constitution was to be submitted to the votes of 
the people of Kansas, with the offer of heavy bribes to 
them in the way of donations of land, etc., if they 
would accept it ; and the people, in spite of the bribes, 
voted it down, by an immense majority. 

Judge Douglas's term was on the eve of expiring, 
and he came home to Illinois after the adjournment of 
Congress to attend in person to the political campaign, 
upon the result of which was to depend his re-election 
to the Senate. 

His course on the Lecompton bill had made an open 
breach between him and the Administration, and he 
had rendered such good service to the Eepublicans in 
their battle with that monstrous infamy, that there were 
not wanting many among them who were inclined to 
think it would be wise not to oppose his re-election. 

But the Republicans of Illinois thought otherwise. 
They knew the man. They knew that on the cardinal 
})rinciple of the Republican party, opposition to the 
spread of Slavery into the Territories, he was not with 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 

them ; for he had declared in the most positive way 
that he " did not care whether Slavery was voted down 
or up." They believed that in his action on the Le- 
compton bill, he was actuated fully as much by the cer- 
tainty that any other action would be followed by his 
immediate and utter overthrow at home, as from any 
other considerations. And they therefore determined, 
in opposition to the views of some influential Eepubli- 
cans at home as well as in other States, to fight the bat- 
tle through against him, with all the energy that they 
could bring to the work. And to this end, on the 17th 
of June, 1858, at their State Convention at Springfield, 
they nominated Mr. Lincoln as their candidate for the 
Senate of the United States. 

The speech of Mr. Lincoln to the Convention which 
had nominated him, was the beginning of the campaign. 
Its opening sentences contained those celebrated words, 
which have been often quoted both by friends and ene- 
mies : "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I 
believe this Government cannot endure permanently 
half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to 
be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall, but I 
do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become 
all one thing or all the other." Little idea could he have 
had then how near the time was when the country 
should be united upon this point. Still less could he 
have dreamed through what convulsions it was to pass 
before it reached that wished-for position — into what 
an abyss of madness and crime the advocates of Slavery 
would plunge in their efforts to " push it forward till it 
should become alike lawful in all the States, old as well 
as new — North as well as South." But there seemed 



34 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 

to him to be manifest indications of their design thus 
to pusli it forward, and he devoted his speech to show- 
ing forth the machinery which they had now almost 
completed, for the attainment of their purpose ; it only 
needing that the Supreme Court should say that the 
Constitution carried Slavery over the States, as they 
had already in the Dred Scott decision declared that 
it "was carried over the Territories. And he closed his 
speech with a sharp attack upon Douglas, as being a 
party to this plan to legalize Slavery over the Conti- 
nent. It was plain from the first that the struggle 
would take the shape of a personal contest between the 
two men. Each recognized the other as the embodi- 
ment of principles to which he was in deadly hostility. 
Judge Douglas was the champion of all sympathizers 
with Slavery at the North, of those who openly advo- 
cated it, and still more of those who took tlie more 
plausible and dangerous part of not caring whether it 
" was voted down or up." Mr. Lincoln's soul was on 
fire with love for freedom and for humanity, and with 
reverence for the Fathers of the Country, and for the 
principles of freedom for all under the light of which 
they marched. He felt that the contest was no mere 
local one, that it was not of any great consequence what 
man succeeded in the fight, but that it was all-impor- 
tant that the banner of Freedom should be borne with 
no faltering step, but " full high advanced." And thus 
through the whole campaign he sought with all his 
power to press home to the hearts of the people the 
principles, the example and the teachings of the men 
of the Revolution. 

The two combatants first met at Chicago, in July. 



LIPE OF ABllAHAM LIXCOLN. 35 

There was no arrangement then about their speaking 
against each other, but Judge Douglas having addressed 
a meeting on the 9th July, it was inevitable that Mr. 
Lincoln should answer him on the 10th. One week later 
both spoke in Springfield on the same day, but before 
different audiences; and one week later Mr. Lincoln 
addressed a letter to Douglas, challenging him to a series 
of debates during the campaign. 

The challenge was accepted, though not without an 
attempt to make a little capital out of it, which was 
quite characteristic. It was also quite characteristic 
that the terms which Douglas proposed were such as to 
give him the decided advantage of having four opening 
and closing speeches to Mr. Lincoln's three ; and that 
Mr. Lincoln, while noticing the inequality, did not hesi- 
tate to accept them. 

The seven joint debates were held as follows : — at 
Ottawa on August 21st; at Freeport on August 27th ; 
at Jonesboro on September 15th ; at Charleston on Sep- 
tember 18th ; at Galesburg on October 7th; at Quincy 
on October 13th ; at Alton on October 15th. These 
seven tournaments raised the greatest excitement 
throughout the State. They were held in all quarters 
of the State, from Freeport in the north to Jonesboro 
in the extreme south. Everywhere the different par- 
ties turned out to do honor to their champions. Pro- 
cessions and cavalcades, bands of music and cannon- 
firing, made every day a day of excitement. But far- 
greater was the excitement of such oratorical contests 
between two such skilled debaters, before mixed audi- 
ences of friends and foes, to rejoice over every keen 
thrust at the adversary ; to be cast down by each fail- 



36 LIFK OF ABRAHAJI LIXCOLX. 

ure to parry tlie tlirust so aimed. We cannot pretend 
to give more than the barest sketch of these great efforts 
of Mr. Lincoln's. Thej are and always ^Yill be, to those 
wlio are interested in the history of the Slavery contest, 
most valuable and important documents. 

In the first speech at Ottawa, besides defending him- 
self from some points which Douglas had made against 
him, and among others, explaining and enlarging upon 
that passage from his Springfield speech, of " A house 
divided against itself," he took up the charge which he 
had also made in that speech of the conspiracy to ex- 
tend Slavery over the northern States, and pressed it 
home, citing as proof of its existence a speech which 
Douglas himself had made on the Lecompton bill, in 
which he had substantially made the same charge upon 
Buchanan and others. He then showed again that all 
that was necessary for the accomplishment of the scheme 
was a decision of the Supreme Court that no State 
could exclude Slavery, as the Court had already decided 
that no Territory could exclude it, and the acquiescence 
of the people in such a decision, and he told the people 
that Douglas was doing all in his power to bring about 
such acquiescence in jidvance, by declaring that the 
true position was not to care whether Slavery " was 
voted down or up," and by announcing himself in 
f.ivor of the Dred Scott decision, not because it was 
right, but because a decision of the Court is to him 
a " Thus saith the Lord," and thus committing himself 
to the next decision just as firmly as to this. He closed 
his speech with the following eloquent words : " Henry 
Clay, my beau ideal of a Statesman — the man for whom 
I fought all my humble life — once said of a class of 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLK. 37 

men who wo aid repress all tendencies to liberty and 
ultimate emancipation, that they must, if they would 
do this, go back to the era of our Independence and 
muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous 
return ; they must blow out the moral lights around 
us ; they must penetrate the human soul and eradicate 
there the love of liberty ; and then, and not till then, 
could they perpetuate Slavery in this country. To my 
thinking, Judge Douglas is, by his example and vast 
influence, doing that very thing in this community, 
\vhen he says that the negro has nothing in the Declara- 
tion of Independence. Henry Clay plainly understood 
the contrary. Judge Douglas is going back to the era 
of our Eevolution, and to the extent of his ability 
muzzling the cannon which thunders its annual joyous 
return. When he invites any people, willing to have 
Slavery, to establish it, he is blowing out the moral 
lights around us. When he says he ' cares not whether 
Slavery is voted down or up' — that it is a sacred right 
of self-government, he is, in my judgment, penetrating 
the human soul and eradicating the light of reason and 
the love of liberty in this American people. And 
when, by all these means and appliances, he shall suc- 
ceed in bringing public sentiment to an exact accord- 
ance with his own views — when these vast assemblages 
shall echo back all these sentiments, when they shall 
come to repeat his views and to avow his principles, 
and to say all that he says on these mighty questions — 
then it needs only the formality of the second Dred 
Scott decision, which he indorses in advance, to make 
Slavery alike lawful in all the States — old as well as 
new, North as well as South." 



38 LIFE OF ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 

In the second debate at Freeport, Mr. Lincoln gave 
categorical answers to seven questions whicli Douglas 
liad 23roposed to him, and in his turn put four questions 
to Douglas, to which he got but evasive replies. He 
also pressed home upon his opponent a charge of 
quoting resolutions as being adopted at a Eepublican 
State Convention, which were never so adopted, and again 
called Douglas's attention to the conspiracy to national- 
ize Slavery, and he showed that his pretended desire to 
leave the people of a Territory free to establish Slavery 
or exclude it, was really only a desire to allow them to 
establish it, as was shown by his voting against Mr. 
Chase's amendment to the Nebraska Bill, which gave 
them leave to exclude it. In the third debate at Joncs- 
boro, Mr. Lincoln showed that Douglas and his friends 
were trying to cbange the position of the country on 
the Slavery question from what it was when the Consti- 
tution was adopted, and that the disturbance of the 
country had arisen from this pernicious effort. He 
then cited from Democratic speeches and platforms of 
former days to show that they occupied then the very 
opposite ground on the question from that which was 
taken now, and showed up the evasive character of 
Douglas's answers to the questions which he had pro- 
posed, especially the subterfuge of " unfriendly legis- 
lation" which he had set forth as the means by which 
the people of a Territory could exclude Slavery from 
its limits in spite of the Dred Scott decision. 

When Mr. Lincoln was preparing these questions for 
Douglas, he was urged by some of his friends not to 
corner him on that point, because he would surely 
stand by his doctrine of Squatter Sovereignty in defi- 



LIFE OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 39 

ance of the Dred Scott decision, " and that,"' said tlicj, 
"will make him Senator." "That may be," said Mr. 
Lincoln, with a twinkle in his eye, "but if he takes 
that shoot he never can be President." 

Mr. Lincoln's sagacity did not fail him here. This 
position which Douglas took of " unfriendly legis- 
lation," was a stumbling-block which he was never 
able to get over ; and if the contest between them had 
brought out no other good result, the compelling 
Douglas to take this ground was an immense success. 

The fourth speech, at Charleston, was devoted by 
Mr. Lincoln to enlarging upon the evidence of a charge 
previously made by Judge Trumbull upon Douglas of 
being himself responsible for a clause in the Kansas 
bill which would have deprived the people of Kansas 
of tlie right to vote upon their own Constitution — 
a charge which Douglas could never try to answer 
without losing his temper. 

In the fifth debate, Mr. Lincoln answered the charge 
that the Kepublican party was sectional; and after again 
exploding the fraudulent resolutions and giving strong 
proof that Douglas himself was a party to the fi'aud, 
and again showing that Douglas had failed to answer 
his question about the acceptance of the new Dred 
Scott decision, which, he said, was "just as sure to be 
made as to-morrow is to come, if the Democratic party 
shall be sustained" in the elections, he discussed the 
acquisition of further territory and the importance of 
deciding upon any such acquisition, by the effect which 
it would have upon the Slavery question among our- 
belves. 

In the next debate, at Quincy, besides making some 



40 LIFE OF ABE AH AM LIXCOLX. 

personal points as to tlie mode in wliicli Douglas had 
conducted tlie previous discussions, lie stated clearly 
and briefly what were the principles of the Eepublican 
party, what they proposed to do, and what they did not 
propose to do. He said that they looked upon Slavery 
as " a moral, a social, and a political wrong," and they 
" proposed a course of conduct which should treat it as 
a wrong ;'' did not propose to "disturb it in the States," 
but did propose to " restrict it to its present limits ;" 
did not propose to decide that Dred Scott was free, but 
did not believe that the decision in that case was a po- 
litical rule binding the voters, the Congress, or the Presi- 
dent, and proposed ''so resisting it as to have it re- 
versed if possible, and a new judicial rule established 
on the subject." 

Mr. Lincoln's last speech, at Alton, was a very full 
and conclusive argument of the whole Slavery Ques- 
tion. He showed that the present Democratic doctrines 
were not those held at the time of the Revolution in 
reference to Slavery ; showed how the agitation of the 
country had come from the attempt to set Slavery upon 
a different footing, and showed the dangers to the 
country of this attempt. He brought the whole contro- 
versy down to the vital question whether Slavery is 
wrong or not, and demonstrated that the present Derfio- 
cratic sentiment was that it was not wrong, and that 
Douglas and those who sympathized with him did not 
desire or expect ever to see the country freed from this 
gigantic evil. 

It must not be supposed that these seven debates 
were all of Mr. Lincoln's appearances before the people 
during the campaign. He made some fifty other 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOL:^-. 41 

speecbes all over tlie State, and everywhere his strong 
arguments, his forcible language, aM his homely way 
of presenting the great issues, so as to bring them home 
to the hearts of the people, had a powerful effect. The 
whole State fairly boiled with the excitement of the 
contest. Nor this alone, for all over the country the 
eyes of the people were turned to Illinois as the great 
battle-ground, and the earnest wishes of almost all who 
loved freedom followed Mr. Lincoln throughout all the 
heated struggle. He had, hovv^ever, other opposition 
besides that of his political opponents. The action of 
Judge Douglas on the Lecompton Constitution, and the 
bitter hostility of the southern wing of the Democratic 
party towards him, had led very many Eepublicans, 
and some of high consideration and influence in other 
States, to flivor his return to the Senate. They deemed 
this due to the zeal and efficiency with which he had 
resisted the attempt to force slavery into Kansas against 
the will of the people, and as important in encouraging 
other Democratic leaders to imitate the example of 
Douglas in throwing off the yoke of the slaveholding 
aristocracy. This feeling proved to be of a good deal 
of weight against Mr. Lincoln in the canvas. 

Then, again, the State had been so unfairly districted, 
that the odds were very heavily against the Republi- 
cans, and thus it came about that although on the 
popular vote Douglas was beaten by more than five 
thousand votes, he was enabled to carry off the sub- 
stantial prize of victory by his majority in the Legisla- 
ture. We say the " substantial prize of victory," and 
so it was thought to be at the time. But later events 
showed that the battle which was then fought was after 
all but the precursor of the Presidential contest, and 



42 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXC0L:N". 

that it insured to Mr. Lincoln the victory in that more 
important struggle.* 

Between the close of this Senatorial contest and the 
opening of the Presidential campaign, Mr. Lincoln 
made several visits to other States. In the following 
year he took an active part in the political campaign in 
Ohio, still following up his old opponent, who had but 
recently contributed to Harper's Magazine his famous 
article on Slavery and the Constitution. He also 
visited Kansas, and was received with unbounded en- 
thusiasm by the people of that State, whose battle he had 
fought so well ; and in February, 1860, he visited New 
York, and there made a speech on National Politics 
before the Young Men's Republican Club at Cooper 
Institute, the effect of which was to make him better 
known and still more highly esteemed in New York, 
where his contest with Douglas had already made him 
many friends. Indeed, we think we hardly state it too 
strongly when we say, that their joint effect was to 
make Mr. Lincoln decidedly the second choice of the 
great body of the Republicans of New York, as the 
e.-indidale of the Republican party for the campaign 
of 1860. 

It was, doubtless, during this visit of Mr. Lincoln to 
New York that the following incident occurred, which 
is thus narrated by a teacher at the Five Pomts House 
of Industry : " Our Sunday School in the Five Points 
was assembled, one Sabbath morning, when I noticed 
a tall, remarkable looking man enter the room and 
take a seat among us. He listened with fixed attention 
to our exercises, and his countenance expressed such 
genuine interest that I approached him and suggested 



LIFE OF ARRAIIAM LINCOLX. 43 

that ho might be willing to say something to the chil- 
dren. He accepted the invitation with evident pleasure ; 
and coming forward began a simple address, which at 
once fascinated every little liearer and hushed the room 
into silence. His language was strikingly beautiful, 
and his tones musical with intensest feeling. The little 
foces around him would droop into~ sad conviction as 
he uttered sentences of warning, and would brighten 
into sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. 
Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, but 
the imperative shout of ' Go on !' ' Oh, do go on !' 
would compel him to resume. As I looked upon the 
gaunt and sinewy frame of the stranger, and marked 
his powerful head and determined features, now touched 
into softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt 
an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more about 
him, and when he was quietly leaving the room I 
begged to know his name. He courteously replied, 
' It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' " 

The Republican National Convention of 1860, met 
on the 16th of May, at Chicago, in an immense building 
which the people of Chicago had put up for the pur- 
pose, called the Wigwam. There were 465 Delegates. 
The city was filled with earnest men, who had come 
there to press the claims of their favorite candidates, 
and the halls and corridors of all the hotels swarmed, 
and buzzed with an eager crowd, in and out of which 
darted or pushed or wormed their way the various 
leaders of party politics. Mr. Chase, Mr. Bates, and 
Mr. Cameron were spoken of and pressed somewhat as 
candidates, but from the first it was evident that the 
contest lay between Mr. Sewiu'd and Mr. Lincoln. 



44 LLFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Judge Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, was cliosen tempo- 
rary Chairman of the Conyention, and in the afternoon 
of the first day a permanent organization was effected 
by the choice of George Ashniun, of Massachusetts, as 
President, with 27 Vice-Presidents and 25 Secretaries. 
On Thursday, the 17th, the Committee on Eesolutions 
reported the platform, which was enthusiastically 
adopted. A motion was made to proceed to the nomi- 
nation at once, and if that had been done the result of 
the Convention might have proved very different, as at 
that time it was thought that Mr. Seward's chances 
were the best. But an adjournment was taken till the 
morning, and during the night the combinations were 
made which resulted in the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. 
The excitement of the Convention and of the audience 
on the morning of Friday was intense. The Illinoisans 
had turned out in great numbers, zealous for Lincoln, 
and though the other States, near and far, had sent 
many men who were equally zealous for Mr. Seward, 
it was quite clear that Mr. Lincoln's supporters were in 
the majority in the audience. The first ballot gave 
Mr. Seward 173^ votes to 102 for Mr. Lincoln, the rest 
being scattered. On the second ballot the first indica- 
tion of the result was felt, when the Chairman of the 
Vermont Delegation, which had been divided on the pre- 
vious ballot, announced when the name of Vermont was 
called, that " Vermont casts her ten votes for the young 
giant of the "West, Abraham Lincoln." On the second 
ballot, Mr. Seward had 184|- to 181 for Mr. Lincoln, and 
on the third ballot ]\[r. Lincoln received 230 votes, being 
witliin 1^ of a majority. The vote was not announced, 
but so many everywhere had kept the count that it was 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 45 

known tlirougliout the Convention at once. Mr. Car- 
ter, of Ohio, rose and announced a change in the vote of 
the Ohio Delegation of four votes in favor of Mr. Lin- 
coln, and the Convention at once boiled over into a 
state of the wildest excitement. The cheers of the 
audience within were answered by those of a jet larger 
crowd without, to whom the result was announced. 
Cannon roared, and bands played, and banners waved, 
and the excited Eepublicans of Chicago cheered them- 
selves hoarse, while on the wings of electricity sped in 
every direction the news of Mr. Lincoln's nomination, 
to be greeted everywhere with similar demonstrations. 
It was long before the Convention could calm itself 
enough to proceed to business. When it did, other 
States changed their votes in favor of the successful 
nominee until it was announced, as the result of tlie 
third ballot, that Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, had re- 
ceived 354 votes and was nominated by the Eepublican 
party for the office of Presiilent of the United States. 
The nomination was then, on the motion of Mr. Evarts, 
of New York, made unanimous, and the Convention 
adjourned till the afternoon, when they completed their 
work by nominating Hannibal Hamlin for Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

Mr. Lincoln was at Springfield at the time. He had 
been in the telegraph office during the casting of the 
first and second ballots, but then left, and went over to 
the office of the State Journal, where he was sitting 
conversing with friends while the third ballot was 
being taken. In a few moments came across the wires 
the announcement of the result. The Superintendent 
of the Telegraph Company, who was present, wrote on 



46 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

a scrap of paper, " Mr. Lincoln : You are nominated 
on the third ballot," and a boy ran with the message to 
Mr. Lincoln. He looked at it in silence amid the 
shouts of those around him, then rising and putting it 
in his pocket he said quietly, "There's a little woman 
down at our house would like to hear this — I'll go 
down and tell her." 

Next day there arrived at Springfield the committee 
appointed by the Conv^ention to inform Mr. Lincoln 
officially of his nomination; Mr. Ashmun, President 
of the Convention, addressing Mr. Lincoln, said : 

" I have, sir, the honor, in behalf of the gentlemen 
who are present — a Committee appointed by the Ee- 
publican Convention recently assembled at Chicago — • 
to discharge a most pleasant duty. We have come, sir, 
under a vote of instructions to that Committee, to noti- 
fy you that you have been selected by the Convention 
of the Republicans at Chicago for President of the 
United States. They instruct us, sir, to notify you of 
that selection, and that Committee deem it not only 
respectful to yourself, but appropriate to the important 
matter which they have in hand, that they should come 
in person, and present to you the authentic evidence of 
the action of that Convention; and, sir, without any 
phrase which shall either be considered personally 
plauditory to yourself, or which shall have any refer- 
ence to the principles involved in the questions which 
are connected with your nomination, I desire to present 
to you the letter which has been prepared, and which 
informs you of your nomination, and with it the plat- 
form resolutions and sentiments which the Convention 
adopted. Sir, at your convenience we shall be glad to 



LIFE OF ABKAUAM LINCOLN. 47 

receive from jou such a response as it may be your 
pleasure to give us." 

Mr. Lincoln listened to tins address witli a degree of" 
grave dignity that almost wore the appearance of sad- 
ness, and after a brief pause, in which he seemed to be 
pondering the momentous responsibilities of his posi- 
tion, he thus replied : 

" J/r. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee — 
I tender to you, and through you to the Eepublican 
National Convention, and all the people represented in 
it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done me, 
which you now formally announce. Deeply, and even 
painfully sensible of the great responsibility which is 
inseparable from this high honor — a responsibility 
which I could almost wish had fallen upon some one 
of the far more eminent men and experienced states- 
men whose distinguished names were before the Con- 
vention, I shall, by your leave, consider more fully the 
resolutions of the Convention, denominated the plat- 
form, and without any unnecessary or unreasonable de- 
lay, respond to you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not 
doubting that the platform will be found satisfactory, 
and the nomination gratefully accepted. 

" And now I will not longer defer the pleasure of 
taking j'ou, and each of you, by the hand " 

Tall Judge Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who was one of 
the . Committee, and who is himself a great many feet 
high, had meanwhile been eyeing Mr. Lincoln's lofty 
form with a mixture of admiration and very likely 
jealousy; this had not escaped Mr. Lincoln, and as he 
shook hands wnth the judge he inquired, "What is 
your height?" 



48 LIFE OF ABRAHAM I.IXCOLX. 

" Six feet three ; wliat is yours, Mr. Lincoln?" 

"Six feet four." 

"Then," said the judge, "Pennsylvania bows to Illi- 
nois. My dear man, for years my heart has been ach- 
ing for a President that I could look iip to^ and I've 
found him at last in the land where we thought there 
were none but little giants." 

Mr. Lincoln's formal reply to the official announce- 
ment of his nomination, was as follows : 

Speingfield, Illinois, May 23, 18G0. 

Sir — I accept the nomination tendered me by the 
Convention over which j^ou presided, of which I am 
formally apprised in a letter of yourself and others act- 
ing as a Committee of the Convention for that purpose. 
The declaration of principles and sentiments which ac- 
companies your letter meets my ap)proval, and it shall 
be my care not to violate it, or disregard it in any part. 
Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and wuth 
due regard to the views and feelings of all who were 
represented in the Convention, to the rights of all the 
states and territories and people of the nation, to the 
inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual 
union, harmony, and prosperity of all, I am most happy 
to co-operate for the practical success of the principles 
declared by the Convention. 

Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen, 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Hon. George Ashmun, 

President of the Republican Convention. 

Mr. Lincoln's nomination proved universally accept- 
able to the Republican party. They recognized in him 
a man of firin principles, of ardent love for freedom, 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLl!f. 49 

of strict integrity and truth, and tliey went into tlie 
political contest with a zeal and enthusiasm which was 
the guarantee of victory ; while the doubt and uncer- 
tainty, the divided counsels, and wavering purposes of 
their opponents were the sure precursors of defeat. 

His nomination was the signal to the leaders of the 
slaveholders' party for pressing upon the Democratic 
Convention their most ultra views, that by the division 
of the Democratic forces the victory of Mr. Lincoln 
might be assured, and the pretext afforded them for 
carr}-ing into execution the plot against the liberties of 
the country which they had been for so many years 
maturing. That they would dare to carry their threat 
of rebellion into execution, was not believed at the 
North. If it had been, while it would probably have 
scared away some votes from Mr. Lincoln, it would 
have brought to him more votes yet from those who, 
though following the Democratic banner, had not 
learned to disregard the good old doctrine that the ma- 
jority must rule, and would have rushed to its rescue, 
if they had believed that it was really threatened. The 
vote which he received was that of a solid phalanx of 
earnest men, who had resolved that Freedom should be 
henceforth national, and Slavery should be and remain 
as it was meant to be when the Constitution was 
adopted. They formed a body of nearly 2,000,000 
voters, who carried for Mr. Lincoln the electoral votes 
of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Counecticut, New York, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, California. 

That the consequences of that election have been 
3 



50 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LI^-COL:^^. 

ver_^ different from wliat was anticipated by the great 
body of tlie people is unquestionably true. Few men 
of any party then understood the secret influences that 
were conspiring against the peace and integrity of the 
Union, and fewer still were willing to believe any con- 
siderable portion of the people capable of so gigantic a 
crime as the attempted overthrow of the great Eepublic 
of the world, either to revenge a party defeat or to per- 
petuate the slavery of the negro race. Xo man can 
justly be held responsible even for the consequences of 
his own action, any farther than, in the exercise of a 
just and fair judgment, he can foresee them. In elect- 
ing Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency, the American peo- 
ple intended to erect a permanent bulwark against the 
territorial extension of slavery, and the perpetuation of 
its political power. If they had foreseen the madness 
of its defenders, they might have shrunk from the 
dreadful ordeal through which that madness has com- 
pelled the nation to pass, but in this, as in all the af- 
fairs of human life, ignorance of the future often proves 
the basis and guarantee of its wise development : and 
we believe that even now, with their experience, through 
three of the stormiest and most terrible years this na- 
tion has ever seen, of the sagacity, integritj^, and un- 
swerving patriotism with which President Lincoln lias 
performed the duties of his high ofi&ce, and with their 
clearer perception of the ultimate issue of that great 
contest between freedom and slavery, which the pro- 
gress of events had rendered inevitable, the people look 
back with entire satisfaction upon the vote which, in 
1860, made Mr. Lincoln President of the United States. 



THE ADMINISTRATION 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



FROM THE ELECTION, NOV. 6, 1860, TO THE INAUGURATION, 
MARCH 4, 1861. 

Abraham Lincoln was elected to be President of the 
United States on the sixth day of November 1860. The 
preliminary canvass had not been marked by any very extra- 
ordinary features. Party lines were a good deal broken up, 
and four presidential candidates were in the field ; but this 
departure from the ordinary course of party contests had 
occurred more than once in the previous political history of 
the country. Mr. Lincoln was put iji nomination by the 
Republican party, and represented in his life and opinions 
the precise aim and object for which that party had been 
formed. He was a native of a slaveholding State ; and while 
he had been opposed to slavery, he had regarded it as a local 
institution, the creature of local laws, with which the national 
government of the United States had nothing whatever to do. 
But in common with all observant public men, he had watched, 
with distrust and apprehension, the advance of slavery as an ele- 
ment of political power towards ascendency in the government 
of the nation, and had cordially co-operated with those who 
thought it absolutely necessary for the future well-being of the 
country that this tendency should be checked. He had, 
therefore, opposed very strenuously the extension of slavery 



54 PRESIDENT LIXCOLN's ADMINISTRATION. 

into the territories, and had asserted the right and the duty of 
Congress to exclude it by positive legislation therefrom. 

The Chicago Convention, which nominated Mr. Lincoln, 
adopted a platform of which this was the cardinal feature ; 
but it also took good care to repel the imputation of its poli- 
tical opponents, and to remove the apprehensions of the South, 
that tl^ party proposed to interfere with slavery in the States 
whose laws gave it support and protection. It expressly dis- 
avowed all authority and all wish for such interference, and 
declared its purpose to protect the Southern States in the free 
enjoyment of all their constitutional rights. The Democratic 
Convention, originally assembled at Charleston, was disposed 
to make Mr. Douglas its candidate in opposition to Mr. Lin- 
coln; but this purpose was thwarted by leading politicians 
of the slaveholding States, who procured the nomination of 
Mr. Breckinridge, with full knowledge of the fact that this 
would divide the Democratic party, and in all probability 
secure the election of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Bkeckinridge rep- 
resented the pro-slavery element of the Democratic party, 
and asserted the duty of the national government, by a posi- 
tive exercise of its legislative and executive power, to protect 
slavery in the territories, against any legislation either of 
Congress or of the people of the territories themselves, which 
should seek to impair in any degree the right, alleged to be 
recognized in the Constitution, of property in slaves. Mr. 
Douglas supported the theory that the people of the terri- 
tories, acting through their territorial legislature, had the 
same riglit to decide this question for themselves as they had 
to decide any other; and he represented this principle in op- 
position to Mr. Lincoln on the one hand, and Mr. Breckin- 
ridge on the other, in the Presidential canvass. John Bell, 
of Tennessee, was also made a candidate by the action mainly 
of men who were dissatisfied with all the existing political 
parties, and who were alarmed at the probable results of a 



THE PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 55 

Presidential election which promised to be substantially sec- 
tional in its character. They put forth, therefore, no opinions 
upon the leading points in controversy ; and went into the 
canvass with " the Constitution, the Union, and the enforce- 
ment of the laws" as their platform, one upon which they could 
easily have rallied all the people of all sections of the coun- 
try, but for the fact which they seemed to overloolf, that 
the widest possible differences of opinion prevailed among 
the people as to its meaning. 

All sections of the country took part in the election. The 
Southern States were quite as active and quite as zealous as 
the Northern in carrying on the canvass. Public meetings 
were held, the newspaper press South as well as North discussed 
the issues involved with energy and vigor, and every thing on 
the surface indicated the usual termination of the contest, the 
triumph of one party and the peaceful acquiescence of all 
others. The result, however, showed that this was a mistake. 
The active and controlling politicians of the Southern States 
had gone into the canvass with the distinct and well-formed 
purpose of acquiescing in the result only in the event of its 
giving them the victory. The election took place on the 6th 
of November. Mr. Lincoln received the electoral votes of all 
the free States except New Jersey, which veas divided, giving 
him four votes and Mr. Douglas three. Mr. Brkckinridge re- 
ceived the electoral votes of all the Slave States except Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, which voted for Bell, 
and Missouri, which voted for Douglas, as did three electors 
from New Jersey also. Of the popular vote Lincoln re- 
ceived 1,857,610; Douglas 1,365,976; Breckinridge 847,- 
953, and Bell 590,631. Li the Electoral College Lixcoln 
received 180 votes, Douglas 1-2, Breckinridge 72, and 
Bell 39. 

As soon as the result of the election was known, various 
movements in the Southern States indicated their purpose of 



5G PEESiDEXT Lincoln's administration. 

resistance ; and it soon became evident that this purpose had 
been long cherished, and that members of the govenmicnt 
under the Presidency of Mr. Buchanan had officially given 
it their sanction and' aid. On the 29th of October Geneual 
Scott sent to the President and John B. Floyd, his Secre- 
tary of War, a letter expressing apprehensions lest the South- 
ern people should seize some of the Federal forts in the South- 
ern States, and advising that they should be immediately gar- 
risoned by way of precaution. The Secretary of War, ac- 
cording to statements subsequently made by one of his eulogists 
in Virginia, "thwarted, objected, resisted, and forbade " the 
adoption of those measures, which, according to the same 
authority, if carried into execution, would have defeated 
the conspiracy, and rendered impossible the formation of a 
Southern Confederacy. An official report from the ordnance 
department, dated January 16, 1861, also shows that during 
the year 1860, and previous to the Presidential election, 
115,000 muskets had been removed from Northern armories 
and sent to Southern arsenals by a single order of the Secre- 
tary of War, issued on the 30th of December, 1859. On the 
20th of November the Attorney-General, Hon. John S. Black, 
in reply to inquiries of the President, gave him the official 
opinion that Congress had no right to carry on war against 
any State, either to prevent a threatened violation of the Con- 
stitution or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Govern- 
ment of the United States is supreme : and it soon became 
evident that the President adopted this theory as the basis 
and guide of his Executive action. 

South Carolina took the lead in the secession movement. 
Her legislature assembled on the 4th of November, 1860, and, 
after casting the electoral vote of the State for John C. Breck- 
inridge to be President of the United States, passed an act 
the next day calling a State Convention to meet at Columbia 
oil the I7th of December. On the lOth, F. W. Pickens was 



SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA. bi 

elected Governor, and, in his inaugural, declared tlie deter- 
mination of the State to secede, on the ground that, "in the 
recent election for President and Vice-President, the North 
had carried the election upon principles that make it no longer 
safe for us to rely upon the powers of the Federal Government 
or the guarantees of the Federal Compact. This," he added, 
" is the great overt act of the people of the Northern States, 
who propose to inaugurate a chief magistrate not to preside 
over the common interests or destinies of all the States alike, 
but upon issues of malignant hostility and uncompromising 
war to be waged upon the rights, the interests, and the peace 
of half of the States of this Union." The Convention met on 
the l7th of December, and adjourned the next day to Charles- 
ton, on account of the prevalence of small pox at Columbia. 
On the 20th an ordinance was passed unanimously repealing 
the ordinance adopted May 23, 1788, whereby the Constitu- 
tion of the United States was ratified, and " dissolving the 
union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States 
under the name of the United States of America ;" and on the 
24th the Governor issued his proclamation, declaring the 
State of South Carolina to be a " separate, sovereign, free, 
and independent State." 

This was the first act of secession passed by any State. 
The debates in the State Convention show clearly enough 
that it was not taken under the impulse of resentment for any 
sharp and remediless wrong, nor in apprehension that any such 
wrong would be inflicted ; but in pursuance of a settled and 
long-cherished purpose. In that debate Mr. Parker said that 
the movement was " no spasmodic eflTort — it had been grad- 
ually culminating for a long series of years." Mr. Inglis en- 
dorsed this remark, and added, " Most of us have had this 
matter under consideration for the last twenty years." Mr. 
L. M. Keitt said, " I have been engaged in this movement ever 
since I entered political life." And Mr. Rhett, who had been 
3* 



58 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADillXISTEATIOX. 

for many years in the public service, declared tliat " the seces- 
sion of South Carolina was not the event of a day. It is not," 
said lie, "any thing produced by Mr. Lincoln's election, or by 
the non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It is a matter 
which has been gathering head for thirty years. The election 
of Lincoln and Hamlin was the last straw on the back of the 
cameh But it was not the only one. The back was nearly 
broken before." So far as South Carolina was concerned 
there can be no doubt that her action was decided by men 
who had been plotting disunion for thirty years, not on ac- 
count of any Avrongs her people had sustained at the hands of 
the Federal Government, but from motives of personal and 
sectional ambition, and for the purpose of establishing a gov- 
ernment which should be permanently and completely in the 
interest of slavery. 

But the disclosures which have since been made, imperfect 
comparatively as they are, prove clearly that the whole seces- 
sion movement was in the hands of a few conspirators, who 
had their head-quarters at the national Capital, and were them- 
selves closely connected wuth the Government of the United 
States. A secret meeting of these men was held at Washing- 
ton on the night of the 5th of January, 1861, at which the 
Senators from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, 
Mississippi, and Florida were present. They decided, by 
resolutions, that each of the Southern States should secede 
from the Union as soon as possible ; that a Convention of 
seceding States should be held at Montgomery, Alabama, not 
later than the 15th of February; and that the Senators and 
Members of Congress from the Southern States ought to 
remain in their seats as long as possible, in order to defeat 
measures that might be proposed at Washington hostile to 
the secession movement. Davis of Mississippi, Slidell of Louis- 
iana, and Mallory of Florida, were appointed a committee to car- 
ry these decisions into etfect ; and, in pursuance of them, Missis- 



rOEMATION OF THE KEBEL COXFEDERACT. 59 

sippi passed an ordinance of secession January 9th ; Alabama 
and Plorida, January 11 ; Louisiana, January 26, and Texas, 
February 5th. All these acts, as well as all which followed, 
were simply the execution of the behests of this secret conclave 
of conspirators who had resolved upon secession. In all the 
Conventions of the seceding States, delegates were appointed to 
meet at Montgomery. In not one of them was the question of 
secession submitted to a vote of the people ; although in some 
of them the Legislatures had expressly forbidden them to 
pass any ordinance of secession without making its validity 
depend on its ratification by the popular vote. The Conven- 
tion met at Montgomery on the 4th of February, and adopted 
a provisional constitution, to continue in operation for one 
year. Under this constitution Jefferson Davis was elected 
President of the new Confederacy, and Alex. H. Stephens, of 
Georgia, Vice-President. Both were inaugurated on the 18th. 
In an address delivered on his arrival at Montgomery, Mr. 
Davis declared that " the time for compromise has now passed, 
and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make 
all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern 
steel, if coercion is persisted in." He felt sure of the result ; 
it might be they would " have to encounter inconveniences at 
the beginning," but he had no doubts of the final issue. The 
first part of his anticipation has been fully realized ; it remains 
io be seen whether the end will be as peaceful and satisfactory 
as he predicted. 

The policy of the new Confederacy towards the United 
States was soon officially made knoMO. The government 
decided to maintain the status quo until the expiration of Mr. 
Buchanan's term, feeling assured that, with his declared be- 
lief that it would be unconstitutional to coerce a State, they 
need apprehend from his administration no active hostility to 
their designs. They had some hope that, by the 4th of March, 
their new Confederacy would be so far advanced that the new 



60 PEESiDENT Lincoln's admlxistratiox. 

Administration miglit waive its purpose of coercion ; and they 
deemed it wise not to do any thing which should rashly forfeit 
the favor and support of " that very large portion of the North 
whose moral sense was on their side." Nevertheless, they 
entered upon prompt and active preparations for war. Con- 
tracts were made in various parts of the South for the manu- 
facture of powder, shell, cannon balls, and other munitions 
of war. Recruiting was set on foot in several of the States. 
A plan was adopted for the organization of a regular army 
of the Confederacy, and on the 6th of March Congress passed 
an act authorizing a military force of 100,000 men. 

Thus was opened a new chapter in the history of America, 
Thus were taken the first steps towards overthrowing the 
Government and Constitution of the United States, and estab- 
lishing a new nation, with a new Constitution, resting upon 
new principles, and aiming at new results. The Constitution 
of the United States was ordained " in order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
terity." We have the clear and explicit testimony of A. 11. 
Stephens, the Vice-President of the rebel Confederacy, echo- 
ing and reaffirming that of the whole civilized world, to the 
fact, that these high and noble objects — the noblest and the 
grandest at which human institutions can aim — have been 
more nearly attained in the practical working of the Govern- 
ment of the United States than anywhere else on the face of 
the earth. " I look upon this country, with our institutions," 
said Mr. Stephens before the Legislature of Georgia, on the 
14th of November, 1 860, after the result of the Presidential 
election was known, " as the Eden of the world, the paradise 
of the uni.verse. It may be that out of it we may become 
greater and more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in 
telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without 



THE OBJECTS OF SECESSION. 61 

sufficient cause shall take that step, that instead of becoming 
greater, or more peaceful, prosperous, and happy — instead of 
becoming gods we will become demons, and at no distant day- 
commence cutting each otlier's throats." Mr. Stephens on 
that occasion went on, in a strain of high patriotism and com- 
mon sense, to speak of the proposed secession of the State of 
Georgia, in language which will forever stand as a judicial 
condemnation of the action of the rebel States. " The first 
question that presents itself," said Mr. Stephens, " is, shall the 
people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of 
the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United 
States ? My countrymen, I tell you candidly, frankly, and 
earnestly that I do not think that they ought. In my judg- 
ment the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that 
high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from 
the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining 
the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resist- 
ance to the Government, to withdraw from it because a man 
has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. * * 
We went into the election with this people. The result 
was different from what we wished ; but the election 
has been constitutionally held. Were we to make a point 
of resistance to the Government, and go out of the Union 
on this account, the record would be made up hereafter 
against us." 

After the new Confederacy had been organized, and Mr. 
Stephens had been elected its Vice-President, he made an 
elaborate speech to the citizens of Savannah, in which he 
endeavored to vindicate this attempt to establish a new gov- 
ernment in place of the government of the United States, and 
to set forth the new principles upon which it was to rest, and 
which were to justify the movement in the eyes of the world 
and of impartial posterity. That exposition is too important 
to be omitted here. It is the most authoritative and explicit 



62 PRESIDENT Lincoln's ADiiiNisxr^ATiox. 

statement of the character and objects of tlie new government 
which has ever been made. Mr. Stephens said : 

" The new constitution has put at rest forever all agitating questions 
relating to our peculiar institutions — African slavery as it exists among 
us — the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was 
the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jeffer- 
son, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the ' rock upon which the old 
Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture with him, is 
now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great 
truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The 
prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen 
at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were, that the en- 
slavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature ; that it 
was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an 
evil they knew not well how to deal with ; but the general opinion of 
tlie men of that day was, that, somehow or other, in the order of Provi- 
dence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, 
though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at 
tlie time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee 
to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be 
justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because 
of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, w^ere fun- 
damentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of 
races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of 
a government built upon it was wrong — when tlie ' storm came and the 
wind blew, it fell.' 

" Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas ; 
its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that 
tlie negi'o is not equal to the white man ; that slavery, subordination to 
the superior race, is his natural and moral condition. This, our new 
Government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this 
great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been 
slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the va- 
rious departments of science. It is even so amongst us. Many who 
hear mo, perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was not generally 
admitted even within their day. The errors of the past generation still 
cluug to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the Xorth who 
still cling to these errors with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denom- 
inate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind; 



SECESSION MOVEMENTS IN WASHINGTON. 63 

from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of tlie 
most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming 
correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises ; so with the 
anti-slavery fanatics; their conclusions are right if their premises are. 
They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is en- 
titled to equal privOeges and rights with the white man. If their prem- 
ises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just ; but their 
premises being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of 
having heard a gentleman from one of the Northern States, of great 
power and ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with im- 
posing effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to 
j-ield upon this subject of slavery ; that it was as impossible to war 
successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in phj'sics or me- 
chanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in 
maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a princi- 
ple — a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of man. 
The reijly I made to him was, that upon his own grounds we should 
succeed, and that he and his associates in their crusade against our in- 
stitutions would ultimately fail. The truth announced, that it was as 
impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as well as 
in physics and mechanics, I admitted, but told him that it was he and 
those acting with him who were warring against a principle. They 
were attempting to make things equal whicli the Creator had made un- 
equal. 

"In the conflict thus far, success has been on our side, complete 
throughout the length and breadth of the Confederate States. It is up- 
on this, as I have stated, our social fal^ric is firmly planted ; and I can- 
not permit myself to doubt the ultimate success of a fuU recognition of 
this principle throughout the civilized and enlightened world." 

We have thus traced the course of events iu the Southern 
States during the three months that succeeded the election of 
President Lincoln. Let us now see what took place in Wash- 
ington during the same time. Congress met on the od of 
December and the Message of President Buchanan was at once 
sent in. That document ascribed the discontent of the Southern 
States to the alleged fact that the violent agitation in the North 
against slavery had created disaffection among the slaves, and 
created apprehensions of servile insurrection. The President 



o4 PEESIDEXT LINCOLXS ADMilXISTUATIOX. 

vindicated the hostile action of the South, assuming that it was 
prompted by these apprehensions ; but Avent on to show that 
there was no right on the part of any State to secede from the 
Union, while at the same time he contended that the General 
Government had no right to make war on any State for the 
purpose of preventing it from seceding, and closed this portion 
of his Message by recommending an amendment of the Consti- 
tution which should explicitly recognize the right of property 
in slaves, and provide for the protection of that right in all the 
territories of the United States. The belief that the people of 
South Carolina would make an attempt to seize one or more 
of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, created considerable 
uneasiness at Washington ; and on the 9th of December the 
Representatives from that State wrote to the President ex- 
pressing their " strong convictions" that no such attempt would 
be made previous to the action of the State Convention, '■'■ j)ro- 
vided that*no re-enforcements should be sent into those forts, 
and their relative military status shall remain as at present." 
On the 10th of December Howell Cobb resigned his office as 
Secretary of the Treasury, and on the 14th Gen. Cass resigned 
as Secretary of State. The latter resigned because the Presi- 
dent refused to re-enforce the forts in the harbor of Charleston. 
On the 20th the State of South Carolina passed the orJinanoe 
of secession, and on the 26th Major Anderson transferred his 
garrison from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. On the 29th 
John B. Floyd resigned bis office as Secretary of War, alleging 
that the action of Major Anderson was in violation of pledges 
given by the Government that the military status of the forts 
at Charleston should remain unchanged, and that the Presi- 
dent had declined to allow him to issue an order, for which he 
had applied on the 27th, to withdraw the garrison from the 
harbor of Charleston. On the 29th of December, Messrs. 
Barnwell, Adams, and Orr arrived at Washington, as Commis- 
sioners from the State of South Carolina, and at once opened a 



DEBATES IN CONGKESS. 65 

correspondence with President Buchanan, asking for the deliv- 
ery of the forts and other government property at Charleston 
to the authorities of South Carolina. The President replied 
on the 30th, reviewing the whole question — stating that in re- 
moving from Fort Moaltrie Major Anderson acted solely on 
his own responsibility, and that his first impulse on hearing of 
it was to order him to return, but that the occupation of the 
fort by South Carolina and the seizure of the arsenal at Charles- 
ton had rendered this impossible. The Commissioners replied 
on the 1st of January, 1861, insisting that the President had 
pledged himself to maintain the status of affairs in Charleston 
harbor previous to the removal of Major Anderson from Fort 
Moultrie, and calling on him to redeem this pledge. This 
communication the President returned. 

On the 8th of January the President sent a Message to Con- 
gress, calling their attention to the condition of public affairs, 
declaring that while he had no right to make aggressive war 
upon any State, it was his right and his duty to " use military 
force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers 
in the execution of their legal functions, and against those who 
assail the property of the Federal Government;" — but throw- 
ing the whole responsibility of meeting the extraordinary emer- 
gencies of the occasion upon Congress. On the same day Jacob 
Thompson, of Mississippi, resigned his ofBce as Secretary of the 
Interior, because the Star of the West had been sent on the 5th, 
by order of the Government, with supplies for Fort Sumter, in 
violation, as he alleged, of the decision of the Cabinet. Ou 
the 10th, P. F. Thomas, of Maryland, who had replaced 
Howell Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and was 
succeeded by Gen. John A. Dix, of New York. 

The debates and the action of Congress throughout the ses- 
sion related mainly to the questions at issue between the two 
sections. The discussion opened on the 3d of December as 
soon as the President's Message hadbeeu read. The Southern 



66 PKESIDEKT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

Senators generally treated the election of the previous Novem- 
ber as having been a virtual decision against the equality and 
rights of the slaveholding States. The Republican members 
disavowed this construction, and proclaimed their willingness to 
adopt any just and proper measures which would quiet the 
apprehensions of the South, while they insisted that the author- 
ity of the Constitution should be maintained, and the constitu- 
tional election of a President should be respected. At the 
opening of the session Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, in the Senate 
moved the reference of that portion of the President's Message 
which related to the sectional difficulties of the country, to a 
select committee of thirteen. This resolution being adopted, 
Mr. Crittenden immediately afterwards introduced a series of 
joint resolutions, embodying what came to be known after- 
wards as the Crittenden Compromise — proposing to submit to 
the action of the people of the several States the following 
amendments to the Constitution : 

1. Prohibiting slavery in all the territory of the United States north 
of 36° 30', and protecting it as property in all territory south of that 
line ; and admitting into the Union, with or without slavery as its Con- 
stitution might provide, any State that might be formed out of such ter- 
ritory, whenever its population should be sufficient to entitle it to a 
member of Congress. 

2. Prohibiting Congress from abolishing slavery in ijlaces under its 
exclusive jurisdiction within Slave States. 

3. Prohibiting Congress from abohshing slavery within the District 
of Columbia, so long as slavery should exist in Virginia or Maryland ; 
or without the consent of the inhabitants or without just compensation 
to the owners. 

4. Prohibiting Congress from hindering the transportation of slaves 
from one State to another, or to a territory in which slavery is allowed. 

5. Providing that where a fugitive slave is lost to his owner by 
violent resistance to the execution of the process of the law for his re- 
covery, the United States shall pay to said owner his full value, and 
may recover the same from the county in which such rescue occurred. 

6. These provisions were declared to be unchangeable by any future 



THE CEI^^E^'DEN KESOLUTIOXS. 67 

amendment of the Constitution, as were also the existing articles relating 
to the representation of slaves and the surrender of fugitives. 

Besides these proposed amendments of the Constitution Mr. 
Crittenden's resohitions embodied certain declarations in af- 
firmance of the constitutionality and binding force of the 
fugitive slave law — recommending the repeal by the States of 
all bills, the effect of which was to hinder the execution of 
that law, proposing to amend it by equalizing its fees, and 
urging the eflFectual execution of the la'^v for the suppression of 
the African slave trade. 

These resolutions were referred to the Committee of Thir- 
teen, ordered on Mr. Powell's motion, and composed of the 
following Senators: 

Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Toombs, Douglas, Col- 
lamer, Davis, Wade, Bigler, Rice, Doolittle, and Grimes. 

On the 31st of December, this Committee reported that 
they " had not been able to agree upon any general plan of 
adjustment." The whole subject was nevertheless discussed 
over and over again during the residue of the session ; but no 
final action was taken until the verj' day of its close. On 
the 21st of January, Messrs. Yulee and Mallory, of Florida, 
resigned their seats in the Senate because their State had 
passed an ordinance of secession, and on the 28th Mr. Iverson, 
of Georgia, followed their example. Messrs. Clay and Fitz- 
patrick, of Alabama, and Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, followed 
next, and on the 4th of February Messrs. Slidell and Ben- 
jamin, of Louisiana, also took their leave. 

In the House of Representatives the debates took the same 
general direction as in the Senate. On the first day of the 
session a resolution was adopted, by a vote of 145 to 38, to 
refer so much of the President's Message as related to the 
perilous condition of the country, to a committee of one from 
each State. This committee was appointed as follows : 



68 PRESIDENT LIXCOLNS ADMINISTRATION. 

Conv-in of Ohio. Dunn of ludiana. 

Millson of Yirginia. Taylor of Louisiana. 

Adams of Massachusetts. Davis of MississippL 

"Winslow of North Carolina. Kellogg of Illinois. 

Humphrey of New York. Houston of Alabama . 

Boyce of South Carolina. Morse of Maine. 

Campbell of Pennsylvania. Phelps of Missouri 

Love of Georgia. Rust of Arkansas. 

Ferry of Connectic ut. Howard of Michigan. 

Davis of Maryland. Hawkins of Florida^ 

Robinson of Rhode Island. Hamilton of Texas. 

Whitely of Delaware. "Washburn of "Wisconsin. 

Tappan of Now Hampshire. Curtis of Iowa. 

Stratton of New Jersey. Birch of California. 

Bristow of Kentucky. Windom of Minnesota. 

Morrill of Vermont. Stark of Oregon. 
Nelson of Tennessee. 

A great variety of resolutions were offered and referred to 
this committee. In a few days the committee reported the fol- 
lowing series of resolutions, and recommended their adoption : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre'^entatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That all attempts on the parts of the 
Legislatures of any of the States to obstruct or hinder the recovery and 
surrender of fugitives from service or labor, are in derogation of tlie 
Constitution of the United States, inconsistent with the comity and 
good neighborhood that should prevail among the several States, and 
dangerous to the peace of the Union. 

Resolved, That the several States be respectfully requested to cause 
their statutes to be revised, with a view to ascertain if any of them are 
in conflict with or tend to embarrass or hinder the execution of the 
laws of the United States, made in pursuance of the second section of 
the fourth article of the Constitution of the United States for the deliv- 
ering up of persons held to labor by the laws of any State and escaping 
therefrom; and the Senate and House of Representatives earnestly 
request that all enactments having suoli tendency be forthwith re- 
pealed, as required by a just sense of constitutional obligations, and by 
a due regard for the peace of the Ropubhc ; and the President of the 
United States is requested to commimicate these resolutions to the 



COXCILIATORY ACTION" OF COXGKESS. 69 

Governors of the several States, with a request that they will lay the 
same before the Legislatures thereof respectively. 

Resolved, That we recognize slavery as now existing in fifteen of the 
United States by the usages and laws of those States ; and we recog- 
nize no authority, legally or otherwise, outside of a State where it so 
exists, to interfere with slaves or slavery in such States, in disregard of 
the rights of their owners or the peace of society. 

Resolved, That we recognize the justice and propriety of a faithful 
execution of the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, on 
the subject of fugitive slaves, or fugitives from service or labor, and 
discountenance aU mobs or hinderances to the execution of such laws, 
and that citizens of each State shaU be entitled to all the privileges and 
immunities of citizens in the several States. 

Resolved, That we recognize no such conflicting elements in its com- 
position, or sufficient cause from any source, for a dissolution of this 
Government; that we were not sent here to destroy, but to sustain 
and harmonize the institutions of the country, and to see that equal 
justice is done to all parts of the same ; and finally, to perpetuate its 
existence on terms of equality and justice to all the States. 

Resolved, That a faithful observance, on the part of all the States, of 
all their constitutional obligations to each other and to the Federal Gov- 
ernment, is essential to the peace of the country. 

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Government to enforce 
the Federal laws, protect the Federal property, and preserve the Union 
of these States. 

Resolved, That each State be requested to revise its statutes, and, if 
necessary, so to amend the same as to secure, without legislation by 
Congress, to citizens of other States travelling therein, the same protec- 
tion as citizens of such State enjoy ; and also to protect the citizens of 
other States traveUing or sojourning therein against popular violence or 
illegal summary punishment, without trial in due form of law, for im- 
puted crimes. 

■ Resolved, That each State be also respectfully requested to enact such 
hiws as will prevent and punish any attempt whatever in such State to 
recognize or set on foot the lawless invasion of any other State or Ter- 
ritory. 

Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit copies of 
the foregoing resolutions to the Governors of the several States, 
with a request that they be communicated to their respective Legis- 
latures. 



70 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

These resolutions were intended and admirably calculated 
to calm the apprehensions of the people of the slaveliolding 
States as to any disposition on the part of the Federal Gov- 
ernment to interfere with Slavery, or withhold from them 
any of their constitutional rights ; and in a House controlled 
by a large Republican majority, they were adopted by a vote 
of ayes 136, noes 53. Not content with this eflfort to satisfy 
all just complaints on the part of the Southern States, the 
same committee reported the following resolution, recom- 
mending such an amendment of the Constitution as should 
put it forever out of the power of the Government or people 
of the United States to interfere with Slavery in any of the 
States : 

Be it resolved by the Senate and Rouse of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses con- 
curring), That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of 
the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall 
be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, 
namely : 

Art. 12. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will 
authorize, or give to Congress the power to aboUsh or interfere, within 
any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of per- 
sons held to labor or service by the laws of said State. 

This resolution was adopted by a vote of 133 to 65 — more 
than tivo-thirds in its favor. This closed the action of the 
House of Representatives at this session on this important 
subject, though it had previously adopted, by a unanimous 
vote, the following declaratory resolution : — 

Besolved, That neither the Federal Government nor the people, or tho 
governments of the non-slaveholding States, have the right to legislate 
upon or interfere with Slavery in any of the slaveholding States in the 
Union. 

The action of the Senate was somewhat modified by the 
intervenins: action of a Peace Conference, which assembled at 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE. 71 

Waslilngton on the 4tli of February, in pursuance of a recom- 
mendation of the State of Virginia, embodied in resolutions 
adopted by the General Assembly of that State on the 19th 
of January. It consisted of delegates, 133 in number, from 
21 States — none of those which had seceded being repre- 
sented. John Tyler, of Virginia, was appointed president, 
and a committee, consisting of one from each State, was ap- 
pointed, with authority to "report what they may deem right, 
necessary, and proper to restore harmony and preserve the 
Union." On the 15th of February the committee reported a 
series of resolutions, in seven sections, which were discussed 
and amended, one by one, until the afternoon of the 26th, 
when the vote was taken upon theia as amended, in succes- 
sion, with the following results : 

Section 1. In all the present territory of the United States, north of 
the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude, in- 
voluntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, is prohibited. lu 
all the present territory south of that line, the status of persons held to 
involuntaiy service or labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed ; nor 
shall any law be passed by Congress or the Territorial Legislature to 
hinder or prevent the taking of such persons from any of the States of 
this Union to said territory, nor to impair the rights arising from said re- 
lation ; but the same shall be subject to judicial cognizance in the Federal 
Courts, according to the course of the common law. When any territory 
north or south of said line, within such boundary as Congress may pre- 
scribe, shall contiiin a population equal to that required for a member of 
Congress, it shall, if its form of government be republican, be admitted 
into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or with- 
out involuntary servitude as the constitution of such State may provide. 

The vote on the adoption of the section was as follows : 

Ates. — Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Penn- 
sylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee — 8. 

Noes. — Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, 
New York, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 11. 

So its adoption was not agreed to. 

A reconsideration of this vote was called for by the delegates from 
Illinois and agreed to, 14 to 5. On the next day the question was again 
taken on the adoption of the section, with the following result : 



72 PRESIDENT LESTCOLN S ADMIXISTEATION. 

Ates. — Delaware Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee — 9. 

Noes. — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, 
New Ilarapshire, Vermont, Virginia — 8. 

Thus the section was adopted. 
; It was stated by the members from New York, when the State was 
called, that one of their number, D. D. Field, was absent, and the del- 
egation was divided. Thus New York, Indiana, and Kansas were 
divided. 

The adoption of the second section was then moved ; it was as fol- 
lows: 

Section 2. No territory shall be acquired by the United States, except 
by discovery, and for naval and commercial stations, depots, and transit) 
routes, without the concurrence of a majority- of all the Senators from 
States which allow involuntary servitude, and a majority of aU the Sena- 
tors from States which prohibit that relation ; nor shall territory be ac- 
quired by treaty, unless the votes of a majority of the Senators from each 
class of States hereinbefore mentioned be cast as a part of the two-thirds 
majority necessary to the ratification of such treaty. 

The vote on this section was as follows : 

Ates. — Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia — 11. 

Noes.— Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Car- 
olina, New Hampshire, Vermont — 8. 

New York and Kansas were divided. 

The adoption of section three of the report, with the amendments, 
was next moved. The amended section was as foUows : 

Section 3. Neither the Constitution nor any amendment thereof shall 
be construed to give Congress power to regulate, abolish, or control, 
within any State, the relation established or recognized by the laws 
thereof touching persons held to labor or involuntary service therein, nor 
to interfere with or abolish involuntary service in the District of Colum- 
bia without the consent of Maryland and without the consent of the 
owners, or making the owners who do not consent just compensation ; 
nor the power to interfere with or prohibit representatives and others 
from bringing with them to the District of Columbia, retaining and 
taking away, persons so held to labor or service; nor the power to in- 
terfere with or abolish involuntary service in places under the exclusive 
jurisdiction of the United States within those States and Territories 
where the same is established or recognized; nor the power to prohibit 
the removal or transportation of persons held to labor or involuntary 
Bervice in any State or territory of the United States to any other State or 



THE PEACE CONFERENCE. V3 

territory thereof where it is established or recognized by law or usa<ye - 
and the right during transportation, by sea or river, of touching at ports, 
shores, and landings, and of landing in case of distress, shall exist; but 
not the right of transit in or through any State or territoiy, or of sale or 
traffic, against the law thereof. Nor shall Congress have power to 
autliorize any higher rate of taxation on persons held to labor or service 
than on land. 
The vote on the adoption of the section was as follows : 

Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey; 
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vir. 
ginia — 13. 

Noes.— Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
ehire, Vermont— 7. 

So the section was adopted. Kansas and New York were divided. 

The adoption of the fourth section of the report, as amended, was 
tlien moved ; it was as follows : 

Section 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the fourth 
article of the Constitution shall not be construed to prevent any of the 
States, by appropriate legislation, and through the action of their judicial 
and ministerial officers, from enforcing tlie delivery of fugitives from 
labor to the person to whom such service or labor is due. 

The vote on the adoption of this section was as follows : 

Ayes. — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, 
Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode 
Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia — 15. 

Noes. — Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire — 4. 

Tims the section was adopted, Kansas and New York were divided. 

The adoption of the fifth section of the report as amended was then 
moved ; it was as follows : 

Section 5. The foreign slave-trade is hereby forever prohibited, and it 
shall be the duty of Congress to pass laws to prevent the importation of 
slaves, coolies, or persons held to sers-ice or labor into the United States 
and the Territories from places beyond the limits thereof. 

The vote on the adoption of this section resulted as follows : 

Ayes. — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, 
Missouri, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Kansas — 16. 

Noes. — Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia — 5. 

The section was thus adopted. 

A motion was next made to adopt the sixth section as amended; it 
was as foUows : 

Section 6. The first, third, and fifth sections, together with this sec- 
tion of these amendments, and the third paragraph of the second section 
4 



74 PRESIDENT LIXCOLN's ADMIXISTEATIOX. 

of the first article of the Coustitution, and the third paragrapli of the 
Bccond section of the fourth article thereof, shall not be amended or abol- 
ished without the consent of all the States. 
The vote on this section was as follows : 

Ayes. — Delaware, Elinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Kansas— 11. 

Noes.— Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, North Caro- 
lina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia — 9. 

New York was divided. So this section was adopted. 

The motion was then made to adopt the seventh and last section as 
amended ; it was as follows : 

Section 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United States shall 
pay to the owner the full value of his fugitive from labor, in all cases 
where the marshal or other oflicer whose duty it was to arrest such fugi- 
tive, was prevented from doing so by violence or intimidation, from mobs 
or other riotous assemblages, or when, after arrest, such fugitive was res- 
cued by like violence or intimidation, and the owner thereby deprived of 
the same ; and the acceptance of such paj^ment shall preclude the owner 
from further claim to such fugitive. Congress shaU provide by law for 
securing to the citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of 
citizens in the several States. 

The vote on this section was as follows : 

Ayes. — Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, 
New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Kan- 
sas— 12. 

Noes. — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Vermont, 
Virginia — 7. 

Thus the last section was adopted. New York was divided. 

The adoption of the following resolution was then moved by Mr. 
Franklin, of Pennsylvania : 

Resolved, As the sense of this Convention, that the highest political 
duty of every citizen of the United States is his allegiance to the Federal 
Government created by the Constitution of the United States, and that 
no State of this Union has any constitutional righ* to secede therefrom, 
or to absolve the citizens of such State from their allegiance to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. 

It was moved to lay the resolution on the table. The vote was as 
follows : 

Ates. — Delaware, Kentucky, Afaryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North 
Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia—'.). 

Noes. — Connecticut, Hlinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, 
New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kan- 
sas— 12. 



ACTIOIS- OF CONGRESS. 15 

Some amendments were then offered and laid on the table, when its 
Indefinite postponement was moved and carried by the following vote : 

Ates. — Delaware, Kentncky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North 
Carolina, Oliio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia — 10. 

Noes.— Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania — 7. 

New York was divided. 

The following preamble was then offered by Mr. Guthrie, and 
agreed to : 
To (he Congress of the United States : 

The Convention assembled upon the invitation of the State of Virginia 
to adjust the unhappy differences which now disturb the peace of the 
Union and threaten its continuance, make known to the Congress of the 
United States, that their body convened in the city of Washington on 
the 4th instant, and continued in session until the 37th. 

There were in the body, when action was taken upon that which is 
here submitted, one hundred and thirty-three commissioners, represent- 
ing the following States : Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas. 

They have approved what is herewith submitted, and respectfully re- 
quest that your honorable body will submit it to conventions in the 
States as an article of amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States. 

In the Senate, on the 2d day of March, a communication 
was received from the President of the Peace Congress, com- 
municating- the resolutions thus adopted in that body. They 
were at once referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Crit- 
tenden, Bigler, Thomson, Seward, and Trumbull. The next 
day they were reported to the Senate for its adoption, Messrs. 
Seward and Trumbull, the minority of the Committee, dissent- 
ing from the majority, and proposing the adoption of a resolution 
calling on the Legislatures of the States to express their will in 
regard to calling a Convention for amending the Constitution. 

The question then came up on adopting the resolutions of 
the Peace Conference. Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, moved to 
substitute the first of Mr. Crittenden's resolutions for the first 
of those reported by the Committee. Mr. Crittenden opposed 



76 PEESIDE^T LINCOLX'S ADMIXISTKATION. 

it, and urged the adoption of the propositions of tbe Peace 
Conference in preference to his own. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, 
opposed the resohitions of the Peace Conference, on the ground 
that it would not satisfy the South. Mr. Eater, of Oregon, 
advocated it. Mr. Green, of Missouri, opposed it as surren- 
dering every Southern principle, in which he was seconded 
by Mr. Lane, of Oregon. 

At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Douglas gave a new 
turn to the form of the proceedings of the Senate, by moving 
to take up the resolution adopted by the House to amend the 
Constitution so as to prohibit forever any interference with 
slavery in the States. This motion was carried. Mr. Pugli 
moved to amend by substituting for this resolution the resolu- 
tions of Mr. Crittenden. This was rejected — ayes 14, noes 
25. Mr. Brigham, of Michigan, next moved to substitute a 
resolution against any amendment of the Constitution, and in 
favor of enforcing the laws. This was rejected — ayes 13, noes 
25. Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, then moved to substitute the reso- 
lution of Messrs. Seward and Trumbull, as the minority of the 
Select Committee, calling on the State Legislatures to express 
their will in regard to calling a Convention to amend the 
Constitution. This was rejected — ayes 14, noes 25. The 
propositions of the Peace Conference were then moved by 
Mr. Johnson, of Arkansas, and rejected — ayes 3, noes 34. 
Mr. Crittenden's resolutions were then taken up, and lost by 
the following vote : 

Ayes. — Messrs. Bayard, Bright, Bigler, Crittenden, Doufr- 
las, Gwin, Hunter, Johnson of Tenn., Kennedy, Lane, 
Latham, Mason, Nicholson, Polk, Pugh, Pace, Sebastian, 
Thomson, and Wigfall— 19. 

Noes. — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, 
Doolittle, Durkee, Fessenden, Foote, Foster, Grimes, HarlHi, 
King, Morrill, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Trumbull, Wade, Wilkinson, 
juid Wilson — 20. 



THE SECESSION MOYEilE^STT UXCUECKED. 77 

The resolutions were thus lost in consequence of the with- 
drawal of Senators from the disaffected States. The question 
was then taken on the House resolution to amend the 
Constitution so as to prohibit forever any amendment of the 
(.'onstitution interfering with slavery in any State, and the 
resolution was adopted by a two -thirds vote — ayes 24, nays 
12. 

This closed the action of Congress upon this important 
subject. It was strongly Republican in both branches, yet it 
had done every thing consistent with its sense of justice and 
fidelity to the Constitution to disarm the apprehensions of the 
Southern States, and to remove all provocation for their re- 
sistance to the incoming administration. It had given the 
strongest possible pledge that it had no intention of inter- 
fering with slavery in any State, by amending the Constitution 
so as to make such interference forever impossible. It created 
governments for three new Territories, Nevada, Dakotah, and 
Colorado, and passed no law excluding slavery from any one 
of them. It had severely censured the legislation of some 
of the Northern States intended to hinder the recovery of 
fugitives from labor; and in response to its expressed wishes, 
Rhode Island repealed its laws of that character, and Vermont, 
Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, had the subject under 
consideration, and were ready to take similar action. Yet all 
this had no effect whatever in changing or checking the seces- 
sion movement in. the Southern States. 



78 PEESIDEXT LIXCOLX'S ADMINISTKATIOX. 



CHAPTER 11. 

FROM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON. 

From the date of his election, Mr. Lincoln maintaincJ 
silence on the affairs of the country. The government was to 
remain for three months longer in the hands of Mr. Buchanan, 
and the new President did not deem it becoming or proper for 
him to interfere, in any way, with the regular discharge of its 
duties and responsibilities. On the 11th of February, 1861, 
he left his home in Springfield, Illinois, accompanied to the 
railroad depot by a large concourse of his friends and neigh- 
bors, whom he bade ferewell in the following words : 

My Friends : No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I 
feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have 
lived more than a quarter of a century ; here my children were bom, 
and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you 
again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that 
wliicli has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. 
Ho never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, 
upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without 
the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty 
Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope you, my friends, will 
all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I can- 
not succeed, but with which, success is certain. Again I bid you all 
an affectionate farewell. 

As the train passed through the country the President was 
greeted with hearty cheers and good wishes by the thousands 
who assembled at the railway stations along the route. Party 
spirit seemed to have been forgotten, and the cheers w-erc 
always given for " Lincolu and the Constitution." AtTolono 



SPEECH AT INDIAITAPOLIS. 79 

lie appeared upon the platform, and in response to tlie applause 
which hailed his appearance, he said : 

I am leaving you on an errand of national imijortancc, attended, as 
you are aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us believe, as some 
poet has expressed it, " Behind the cloud tlio sun is still sliining." I bid 
you an affectionate farewell. 

At Indianapolis the party was welcomed by a salute of 
thirty-four guns, and the President-elect was received by the 
Governor of the State in person, and escorted to a carriage 
in waiting, which proceeded — followed by a procession of the 
members of both Houses of the Legislature, the municipal 
authorities, the military, and firemen — to the Bates House. 
Appearing on the balcony of this hotel, Mr. Lincoln was 
greeted by the hearty applause of the large crowd which had 
assembled in the street, to which he addressed the followiiig 
remarks : 

Gov. Morton and Fellow- Citizens of the State of Indiana : 

Most heartily do I thank you for this magnificent reception, and while 
I cannot take to myself any share of the compliment thus paid, more 
than that which pertains to a mere instrument, an accidental instrument, 
perhaps I should say, of a great cause, I yet must look upon it as a 
most magnificent reception, and as such, most heartily do thank you 
for it. Tou have been pleased to address yourself to me chiefly in 
behalf of this glorious Union in which we live, in all of which you have 
ray hearty sympathy, and, as far as may be within my power, will have, 
one and inseparably, my hearty consideration ; while I do not expect, 
upon this occasion, or until I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy 
speech, I will only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but 
one single thing, the hearts of a people like yours. [Applause.] 

The people, when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the 
liberties of their country, truly may it be said, " The gates of hell cannot 
prevail against them." [Renewed applause.] In all trying positions 
in which I shall be placed, and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many 
such, my reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United 
States ; and I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your 
business, and not mine ; that if the union of these States, and the lib- 



so PEESIDEKT LIXCOUSI'S ADillNISTEATIOX. 

erties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fift}'- 
two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who 
inhabit these United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. 
It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for 
yourselves, and not for me. 

I desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as alre;\dy 
intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but 
for a hmited time, and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind 
that with you, and not with poUticians, not with Presidents, not with 
office-seekers, but with you, is the question. Shall the Union and shall 
the Uberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations ? 
[Cheers.] 

In the evening tlie members of tlie Legislature waited upon 
liim in a body at his hotel, where one of their number, on 
behalf of the whole, and in presence of a very large assemblage 
of the citizens of the place, made a brief address of welcome 
and congratulation, which Mr. Lincoln acknowledged in the 
following terms : 

Fellow-Citizens of the State of Indiana : I am here to thank you 
much for this magnificent welcome, and stiU more for the generous sup- 
port given by your State to that political cause which I think is the true 
and just cause of the whole country and the whole world. 

Solomon says there is "a time to keep silence," and when men wran- 
gle by the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing, wliile 
using the same \vord, it perliaps were as well if they would keep silence, 

The words "coercion" and "invasion" are much used in these days, 
and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, 
that we do not misunderstand the meaning of those who use them. Let 
us get exact definitions of tliese words, not from dictionaries, but from 
the men themselves, who certainly depreciate the thinrjs they would 
represent by the use of words. What, then, is "Coercion?" What is 
"Invasion?" Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, 
without the consent of her people, and with hostile intent towards them; 
be "invasion?" I certainly think it would; and it would be "coercion" 
also if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the United 
States should merely hold and retake its own forts and otlier jiroperty, 
and coUect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold the 
maila from places where they were habitually violated, would any or all 



ARRIVAL AND SPEECH AT CllNCIl^JSrATI. 81 

those things be " invasion" or "coercion?" Do our professed lovers 
of the Union, but who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion 
and invasion, understand that such things as these on the part of the 
United States, would be coercion or invasion of a State ? If so, their 
idea of means to preserve the object of their affection would seem ex- 
ceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the Httle pills of the homceopathists 
would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as 
a family relation, would seem to be no regular marriage, but a sort of 
'•free love" arrangement, to be maintained only on "passional attrac- 
tion." 

By the way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State ? I 
speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union, by the Con- 
stitution; for that, by the bond, we all recognize. That position, how- 
ever, a State cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that as- 
sumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself and 
ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a county in a given 
case, should be equal in extent of territory, and equal in number of inhabi- 
tants, in what, as a matter of principle, is the State better than the coun- 
ty ? Would an exchange of names be an exchange of rights upon princi- 
ple ? On what rightful principle may a State, being not more than one- 
fiftieth part of the nation, in soil and population, break up the nation and. 
then coerce a proportionally larger subdivision of itself, in the most ar- 
bitrary way? What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a 
district of country, with its people, by merely calUug it a State ? 

FeUow-citizens, I am not asserting any thing ; I am merely asking 
questions for you to consider. And now allow me to bid you farewell. 

On the morning of the 12tli, Mr. Lincoln took his departure 
and arrived at Cincinnati at about noon, having been greeted 
along the route by the hearty applause of the thousands as- 
sembled at the successive stations. His reception at Cincin- 
nati was overwhelming. The streets were so densely crowded 
that it was with the utmost difficulty the procession could 
secure a passage. Mr. Lincoln was escorted to the Burnett 
House, which had been handsomely decorated in honor of his 
visit. He was welcomed by the Mayor of the city in a few 
remarks, in response to which he said : 

Mr. Mayor ant) Fellow-Citizens : I have spoken but once before this 
in Cincinnati. That was a year previous to the late Presidential election. 
4* 



82 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADillXISTEATION. 

On that occasion, in a playful manner, but with sincere words, I ad- 
dressed much of what I said to the Kentuckians. I gave my opinion 
Uiat we, as Republicans, would ultimately beat them, as Democrats, but 
that they could postpone that result longer by nominating Senator Doug- 
las for the Presidency than they could in any other way. They did 
, not, in any true sense of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas, and the result 
has come certainly as soon as ever I expected. I also told them how I 
expected they would be treated after they should have been beaten; and 
I now wish to call their attention to what I then said upon that subject. 
I then said, "When we do as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to 
know what we will do with you. I will teU you, as far as I am author- 
ized to speak for the opposition, what we mean to do with you. We 
mean to treat you, as near as we possibly can, as Washington, Jeffer- 
son, and Madison treated you. We mean to leave you alone, and in no 
way to interfere with your institutions; to abide by all and every com- 
promise of tlie Constitution ; and, in a word, coming back to the original 
proposition, to treat you so far as degenerate men, if we have degener- 
ated, may, according to the example of those noble fathers, Washing- 
ton, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that you are 
as good as we ; that there is no difference between us, other than the 
difference of circumstances. We mean to recognize and bear in mind 
always that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other people, 
or as we claim to have, and treat you accordingly. 

Fellow-citizens of Kentucky! friends 1 brethren, may I call you in my 
new position? I see no occasion, and feel no inclination to retract a word 
of this. If it shall not be made good, be assured the fault shall not bo 



la the evening the German Republican associations called 
upon Mr. Lincoln and presented him an addre.^^s of con- 
gratulation, to which he responded, warmly endorsing the wis- 
dom of the Homestead bill, and speaking of the advantages 
offered by the soil and institutions of the United States to 
foreigners who might wish to make it their home. He loft 
Cincinnati on the morning of the 13th, accompanied by a Com- 
mittee of the Ohio Legislature, which had come from the Capi- 
tal to meet him. The party reached Columbus at 2 o'clock, 
and the President was escorted to the hall of the Assembly, 



SPJEECII AT COLUMBUS. 83 

where he was formal iy vvelcumed by Lieutenant-Governor Kirk 
on behalf of the Legishiture which had assembled in joint ses- 
sion, to which he made the following reply : 

Me. Presidext and Mr. Speaker, axd Gen'tlemen op the General 
Assembly: It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, 
that very great responsibiUty rests upon me in the position to whicli tlie 
votes of the American people have caUed me. I am deeply sensible of 
that weighty responsibility. I cannot but know what you all know, that 
without a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, 
there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father 
of his country, and so feeling I cannot but turn and look for the support 
witliout which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I 
turn, then, and look to the great American people, and to that God who 
has never forsaken them. 

Allusion has been made to the interest felt in relation to the policy of 
the new Administration. In this I have received from some a degree of 
credit for having kept silence, and from others some depreciation. I still 
think that I was right. In the varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of 
the present, and without a precedent which coidd enable me to judge by 
the past, it has seemed fitting that before speaking upon the difficulties of 
the country, I should have gained a view of the whole field so as to be sure 
after all — at liberty to modify and change the course of pohcy as future 
events may make a change necessary. I have not maintained silence 
from any want of real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more 
than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong. It is a consoling cir- 
cumstance that when we look out, there is nothing that really hurts 
anybody. Wo entertain different views upon political questions, but no- 
body is suffering any thing. This is a most consoling circumstance, and 
from it we may conclude that all we want is time, patience, and a reU- 
ance on that God who has never forsaken this people. Fellow-citizeus, 
what I have said I have said altogether extemporaneously, and wUl new 
come to a close. 

Both Houses then adjourned. Tn the evening Mr. Lincoln 
held a levee, which was very largely attended. On the moniin<> 
of the 14th, Mr. Lincoln left Columbus, At Stcubenville he 
had a formal though brief reception, being addressed by Judge 
Floyd, to whose remarks he made the following reply : 



8i rmisiOKXT Lincoln's Ai>Mi:!fisTBATio:N. 

I fear that the great confidence placed in my ability is unfounded. 
Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast diinculties as I am, 
nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by the American 
people and God. I believe the devotion to the Constitution is equally 
great on both sides of the river. It is only the different under.standing 
of that instrument that causes dilBculty. The only dispute on both 
sides is " What are their rights ?" If the majority should not rule, 
who should be the judge ? Where is such a judge to be found? We 
should all be bound by the majority of the American people — if not, 
then the minority must control. Would that be right ? Would it be 
just or generous ? Assuredly not. I reiterate that the majority 
shoidd rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemna- 
tion will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out, and a 
better man with better views put in my place. 

llie train reached Pittsburg in the evening, and Mr. Lin- 
coln was received with the utmost enthusiasm at the Monon- 
gahela House by a large crowd which had assembled to greet 
him. He acknowledged their reception briefly : 

He said he would not give them a speech, as he thought it more rare, 
if not more wise, for a public man to abstain from much speaking. He 
expressed his gratitude and surprise at seeing so great a crowd and such 
boundless enthusiasm manifested in the night-time and under such un- 
toward circumstances, to greet so unworthy an individual as himself. 
This was undoubtedly attributable to the position which more by acci- 
dent than by worth he had attained. He remarked further, that if all 
those whole-souled people whom he saw this evening before him were 
for the preservation of the Union, he did not see how it could be in 
much danger. He had intended to say a few words to the people of 
Pittsburg — the greatest manufacturing city of the United States — 
upon such matters as they were interested in; but as he had adopted 
the plan of holding his tongue for the most part during the last canvass, 
and since his election, he thought he had perhaps better now still 
continue to hold his tongue. [Cries of " Go on," '' go on."] Well, I am re- 
minded tliat thera is an Alleghany City as well as an Alleghany County, 
the former the banner town, and the latter the banner county, perhaps, 
of the world. I am glad to see both of them, and the good people 
of both. That I may not disappoint these, I will say a few words to 
you to-morrow as to the peculiar interests of Alleghany County." 



SPEECH AT PITTSBURG. S5 

On the morning of the loth, the Mayor and Common Coun- 
cil of the City of Pittsburg waited in a body npon the 
rrcsidcnt-elect. The Mayor made him an address of formal 
welcome in presence of a very large number of citizens who 
had assembled to witness the ceremony. After the applause 
which greeted his appearance had subsided, Mr. Lincoln made 
the following remarks : 

I most cordially thank his Honor Mayor Wilson and the citizens of 
Pittsburg generally, for their flattering reception. I arn the more 
grateful because I know that it is not given to me alone, but to the 
cause I represent, which clearly proves to me their good will, and th:it 
sincere feeling is at the bottom of it. And here I may remark, that in 
every short address I have made to the people, in every crowd through 
which I have passed, of late, some allusion has been made to the pres- 
ent distracted condition of the country. It is natural to expect that I 
should say something on this subject ; but to touch upon it at all would 
involve an elaborate discussion of a great many questions and circum- 
stances, requiring more time than I can at present command, and 
would, perhaps, unnecessarily commit mo upon matters which have not 
yet fully developed themselves. The condition of tlie country is an 
extraordinary one, and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It 
is my intention to give this subject all the consideration I possibly can 
before specially deciding in regard to it, so that when I do speak it 
may be as nearly right as possible. When I do speak, I hope I may 
say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to 
the integrity of the Union, or which will prove inimical to the Uber- 
ties of the people or to the peace of the whole country. And, further- 
more, when the time arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I 
hope I may say nothing to disappoint the people generally througliout 
the country, especially if the expectation has been based upon any thing 
which I may have heretofore said. Notwithstanding the troubles 
across the river — (the speaker pointing southwardly across the Mouou 
gahela, and smiling) — there is no crisis but an artificial one. What is 
there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends 
over the river? Take even their own view of t,he questions involved, 
and there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. I repeat, 
then, there is no crisis, excepting such a one as may be gotten up at 
any time by turbulent men, aided by designing politicians. My advice 



86 PEESIDENT LIXCOL^i's ADillXISTEATION. 

to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If tlie great 
American people only keep their temper on both sides of the hne, the 
troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts 
the country wiU be settled, just as surely as all other difficulties of a 
like character which have originated in this Government have been 
adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and 
just as otlier clouds have cleared away in due time, so wiU this great 
nation continue to prosper as heretofore. But, feUow-citizens, I have 
spoken longer on this subject than I intended at the outset. 

It is often said that the Tariff is the specialty of Pennsylvania. Assum- 
ing that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the Tariff question must 
be as durable as the Government itself It is a question of national 
housekeeping. It is to the Government what replenishing the meal- 
tub is to the family. Every varying circumstance will require frequent 
modifications as to the amount needed, and the sources of supjily. So 
far there is httle difference of opinion among the people. It is only 
whether, and how far, the duties on imports shall be adjusted to favor 
home productions. In the home market that controversy begins. One 
party insists that too much protection oppresses one class for the ad- 
vantage of another, while the other party argues that witli all its inci- 
dents, in the long run, all classes are benefited. In the Chicago Plat- 
form there is a plank upon this subject, which should be a general law 
to the incoming Administration. We should do neither more nor less 
than we gave the people reason to beUeve we would when they gave 
us their votes. That plank is as I now read : 

LIr. Lincoln's private secretary then read section twelfth of tho 
Chicago Platform, as foUows : 

That while providing revenue for the sujiport of the General Govern- 
ment, by duties upon imports, sound policy rctjuirus such an adjust- 
ment of tlicse imports as will eucourage the dcvclopnuut of the indus- 
trial interest of tbe whole country; and we comuKud that policy of na- 
tional cxchauiiLS which secures to working-men liberal wages — to agri- 
culture rcniuiK ratinu' i)rices — to mechauics and manufacturers adequate 
reward for thtir skill, labor, and enterprise; and to the nation commer- 
cial ijrosperity and iudipeudence. 

Mr. Lincoln resumed: As with all general propositions, doubtless 
there will be shades of difference in construing this. I have by no 
means a thoroughly matured judgment upon this subject, especially as 
to details ; some general ideas are about all. I have long tliought to 
produce any necessary article at home which can be made of as good 
quality and with as little labor at home as abroad, would be better policy, 



ARRIVAL AXD SPEECH AT CLKVELAXD. 87 

at least by tlie differencG of the carrying from abroad. In such a caso 
the carrying is demonstrably a dead loss of labor. For instance, labor 
being the true standard of value, is it not plain tliat if equal labor gets 
a bar of railroad iron out of a mine in England, and another out of a 
mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down in a track at home 
cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least by the cost of 
carriage ? If there be a present cause why one can be both made and 
carried cheaper in money price than the other can be made without 
carrying, that cause is an unnatural and injurious one, and ought nat- 
urally if not rapidly to be removed. The condition of the treasury at 
this time would seem to render an early revision of the Tariff indispens- 
able. The Morrill Tariff bill, now ponding before Congress, may or 
may not become a law. I am not posted as to its particular provisions, 
but if they are generally satisfactory and the bill shall now pass, there 
will be an end of the matter for the present. If, however, it shall not 
pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one of the most pressing and 
important for the next Congress. By the Constitution, the Executive 
may recommend measures wliich he may think proper, and he may 
veto those he thinks improper, and it is supposed that he may add to 
these certain indirect influences to affect the action of Congress. My 
political education strongly inclines me against a very free use of any 
of these means by the Executive to control the legislation of tlie coun- 
try. As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well 
as perfect its measures without external bias. I, therefore, would 
rather recommend to every gentleman who knows he is to be a member 
of the next Congress, to take an enlarged view, and inform liimself 
thoroughly, so as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the 
tariff as shall produce a suflficient revenue, and in its otlier bearings, so 
far as possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country and all 
classes of the people. 

Mr. Lincoln left Pittsburg immediately after the delivery 
of this speech, being accompanied to the dep6t by a long- 
procession of the people of the city. The train reached 
Cleveland at half-past four in the afternoon, and the President- 
elect was received by a long procession, which inarched, amidst 
the roar of artillery, through the principal streets to the 
Weddell House, where Mr. Lincoln, in reply to an address of 
welcome from the Mayor, made the following remarks: 



88 PRESIDENT Lincoln's ADMI^flSXEAXIOX. 

Mr. CHAiRiiAN AXD FELLO-^r-CiTizENS OF CLEVELAND: "We have 
been marching about two miles through snow, rain, and deep mud. 
The large numbers that have turned out under these circumstances 
testify that you are in earnest about something or other. But do I 
think so meanly of you as to supjiose that that earnestness is about me 
personally ? I would be doing you injustice to suppose it was. You 
have assembled to testify your respect to the Union and' the Constitu- 
tion and the laws. And here let me state that it is with you, the 
people, to advance the great cause of the Union and the Constitution, 
and not with any one man. It rests with you alone. This fact is 
strongly impressed on my mind at present. In a community like this, 
wliose appearance testifie.s to their intelligence, I am convinced that the 
cause of liberty and the Union can never be in danger. Frequent alhi- 
sion is made to the excitement at present existing in our national poli- 
tics, and it is as weU that I should also allude to it here. I thiuk that 
there is no occasion for any excitement. The crisis, as it is called, i3 
altogether an artificial crisis. In all parts of the nation there are 
differences of opinion on politics. There are differences of opinion even 
here. You did not all vote for the person who now addresses you. 
What is happening now will not hurt those who are further away from 
hero. Have they not all their rights now as they ever have had ? Do 
not they have their fugitive slaves returned now as ever ? Have they 
not the same Constitution that they have lived under for seventy odd 
years ? Have they not a position as citizens of ibis common countr}', 
and have we any power to change that position ? [Cries of " No."] 
What, then, is the matter with them ? Why all this excitement? Why 
all these complaints? As I said before, this crisis is all artificial I It 
has no foundation in fact. It was not ''argued up," as the sajnng is, 
and cannot therefore be argued down. Let it alone, and it will go 
down of itself. [Laughter.] Mr. Lincoln said that they must be con- 
tent with but a few words from him. He was very much fatigued, 
and had spoken so m\ich that he was already hoarse. He thanked 
them for the cordial and magnificent reception they had given him. 
Not less did he tliank them for the votes they gave him last fall; and 
quite as mucii he thanked them for the efficient aid they had given the 
cause which he represented — a cause which he would say was a good 
one. 

lie had one more word to say. He was given to understand that 
this reception was tendered not only by his own party supporters, but 
by men of all parties. This is as it should be. If Judge Douglas had 



AEEIYAL AT BUFFALO. 89 

been elected, and had been here, on his way to "Washington, as I am 
to-night, the Republicans should have joined his supporters in welcom- 
ing him, just as hds friends have joined with mine to-night. If all do 
not join now to save the good old ship of the Union on this voyage, 
nobody wUl have a chance to pilot her on another voyage. He con- 
cluded by thanking all present for the devotion they had shown to the 
cause of the Union. 

On the moruing of the 16th the Presidential party left 
Cleveland for Buffalo. At Erie, where they dined, loud calls 
were made upon Mr. Lincoln for a speech, in response to which 
he made a few remarks, excusing himself for not expressing 
his opinions on the exciting questions of the day. He trusted 
that when the time for speaking should come, he should find 
it necessary to say nothing not in accordance with the Con- 
stitution, as well as with the interests of the people of the whole 
country. At Northeast Station he took occasion to state that 
during the campaign he had received a letter from a young 
girl of the place, in which he was kindly admonished to do 
certain things, and among others to let his whiskers grow ; 
and, as he had acted upon that piece of advice, he 
would now be glad to welcome his fair correspondent, if she 
was among the crowd. In response to the call a lassie made 
her way through the crowd, was helped on the platform, and 
was kissed by the President. 

Arriving at Buffalo, Mr. Lincoln had the utmost difficulty 
to make his way through the dense crowd which had assem- 
bled in anticipation ofjiis arrival. On reaching the American 
Hotel, he was welcomed in a brief speech by Acting-Mayor 
Bemis, to which he responded as follows : 

Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Buffalo and the State op 
New York ; I am here to thank you briefly for tills grand reception 
given to me, not personally, but as the representative of our great and 
beloved country. [Cheers.] Tour worthy Mayor has been pleased to 
mention, in his address to me, the fortunate and agreeable journey which 
I have had from home, only it is a rather circuitous rou^e to the Federal 



90 TEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADillXISTRATIOX. 

capital. I am very happy that he was enabled in truth to congratulate 
myself and company on ihat fact. It is true we have had nothing thus 
far to mar the pleasure of the trip. We have not been met alone by 
those who assisted in giving the election to me ; I say not alone by 
them, but by the whole population of the country through which wo 
have passed. This is as it should be. Had the election fallen to any 
other of the distinguished candidates instead of myself, under the 
peculiar circumstances, to say the least, it would have been proper for 
all citizens to have greeted him as you now greet me. It is an evidence 
of the devotion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and 
the perpetuity of the liberties of this country. [Cheers.] I am unwill- 
ing on any occasion that I should be so meanly thought of as to have 
it supposed for a moment that these demonstrations are tendered to me 
personally. They are tendered to the country, to the institutions of the 
country, and to the perpetuity of the liberties of the country, for which 
these institutions were made and created. 

Tour worthy Mayor has thought fit to express the hope that I may 
be able to relieve the country from the present, or, I should say, the 
threatened difiBculties. I am sure I bring a heart true to the work. 
[Tremendous applause.] For the ability to perform it, I must trust in 
that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored land, tlirougli 
the instrumentality of this great and intelligent people. Without that 
assistance I shall surely fail; -with it I cannot fail. When we speak of 
threatened difBculties to the country, it is natural that it should be ex- 
pected that something should be said by myself with regard to partic- 
ular measures. Upon more mature reflection, however — and others 
will agree with me — that, when it is considered that these difBculties 
are without precedent, and never have been acted upon by any indi\id- 
ual situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and see the 
developments, and get aU the hght possible, so that when I do speak 
authoritatively, I may be as near right as possible. [Cheers.] When I 
shall speak authoritatively, I hope to say nothing inconsistent with the 
Constitution, the Union, the rights of all the States, of each State, and 
of each section of the country, and not to disappoint the reasonable 
expectations of those who have confided to me their votes. In this 
connection allow me to say that you, as a portion of the great Amer- 
ican people, need only to maintain your composure, stand up to your 
sober convictions of right, to 3'our obligations to the Constitution, and 
act in accordance with those sober convictions, and the clouds which 
now arise in tlie horizon will bo dispelled, and we shall have a bright 



MR. LIXCOL]V AT ROCHESTEK AND SYRACUSE. 9.1 

and glorious future ; and when this generation has passed away, tens of 
thousands will inhabit this country where only thousands inhabit it 
now. I do not propose to address you at length ; I have no voice for 
it. Allow me again to thank you for this magnificent reception, and 
bid you farewell. 

Mr. Lincoln remained at Buffixlo over Sunday, the l7th, 
and on the morning of the ] 8th left for Albany. On reaching 
Rochester he was introduced by the Mayor to a crowd of 
several thousands, to whom he said: 

I confess myself, after having seen many large audiences since leav- 
ing home, overwhelmed with this vast number of faces at this hour of 
the morning. I am not vain enough to believe that you are here from 
any wish to see me as an individual, but because I am for the time 
being the representative of the American people. I could not, if I 
would, address you at any length. I have not the strength, even if I 
had the time, for a speech at each of these many interviews that are 
aflbrded me on my way to "Washington. I appear merely to see you, 
and to let you see me, and to bid you farewell. I hope it will be under- 
stood that it is from no disinclination to oblige anybody that I do not 
address you at greater length." 

At Syracuse, where preparations had been made to give 
him a formal reception, he made the following remarks in 
reply to an address of welcome from the Mayor : 

Ladies axd Gentlemen: I see you have erected a very fine and 
handsome platform here for me, and I presume you expected me to 
speak from it. If I should go upon it, you would imagine that I was 
about to deliver you a much longer speech than I am. I wish you to 
understand that I mean no discourtesy to you by thus declining. I 
intend discourtesy to no one. But I wish you to understand that, 
though I am unwilling to go upon this platform,- you are not at liberty 
to draw any inferences concerning any other platform with which my 
name has been or is connected. [Laughter and applause.] I wish you 
long life and prosperity individually, and pray that with the perpetuity 
of those institutions under which we have aU so long Uved and pros- 
pered, our happiness may be secured, our future made brilliant, and the 
glorious destiny of our country established forever. I bid you a kind 
farewell. 



92 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADillXISTEATION. 

At Utica, where an immense and most enthusiastic assem- 
blage of people from the surrounding country had gathered to 
see him, Mr. Lincoln contented himself by saying : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: I have no speech to make to you, and no 
time to speak in. I appear before you that I may see j^ou, and that 
you may see me ; and I am willing to admit, that so far as the ladies 
are concerned, I have the best of the bargain, though I wish it to be 
understood that I do not make the same acknowledgment concerning 
the men. [Laughter and applause.] 

The train reached Albany at half-past two in the afternoon, 
where Mr. Lincoln was formally received by the Mayor in a 
complimentary address, to which he thus replied : 

Mr. Matob : I can hardly appropriate to myself the flattering terms 
in which you communicate the tender of this reception, as personal to 
myself. I most gratefully accept the hospitalities tendered to me, and 
will not detain you or the audience with any extended remarks at this 
time. I presume that in the two or three courses through which I 
shall have to go, I shall have to repeat somewhat, and I wUl therefore 
only repeat to you my thanks for this kind reception. 

A procession was then formed, which escorted Mr. Lincoln 
to the steps of the Capitol, where he was welcomed by the 
Governor, in presence of an immense mass of the people, 
whom he addressed as follows : 

Mr. Governor: I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit the 
capital of the great Empire State of the nation, on my way to the Fed- 
eral Capital, and I now thank you, Mr. Governor, and the people of 
this capital, and the people of the State of New York, for this most 
hearty and magnificent welcome. If I am not at fault, the great Empire 
State at this time contains a greater population than did the United 
States of America at the time she achieved her national independence. 
I am proud to be invited to pass through your capital and meet them, 
as I now have the honor to do. 

I am notified by your Governor tliat this reception is given without 
distinction of party. I accept it the more gladly because it is so. 
Almost all men in this country, and in any country where freedom of 



MK. LIXCOLN AT ALBANY. 93 

thought is tolerated, attach themselves to political parties. It is hut 
ordinary charity to attribute this to the fact that in so attaching him- 
self to the party which his judgment prefers, the citizen believes he 
thereby promotes the best interests of the whole country ; and when 
an election is passed, it is altogether befitting a free people that, until 
the next election, they should be as one people. The reception you 
have extended to me to-day is not given to me personally. It should 
not be so, but as the representative for the time being of the majority 
of the nation. If the election had residted in the selection of either of 
the other candidates, the same cordiality should have been extended to 
him as is extended to me this day, in testimony of the devotion of the 
whole people to the Constitution and the whole Union, and of their 
desire to perpetuate our institutions, and to hand them down in their 
perfection to succeeding generations. 

I have neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any 
greater length. I beg you wih accept my most grateful thanks for this 
devotion — not to me, but to this great and glorious free country. 

Mr. Lincoln was then escoitcd to the Ilall of Assembly, and 
was formally received on behalf of the members of the Legis- 
lature, to whom he made the following address: 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Legislature of the State 
OF New Tore: It is with feelings of great diffidence, and, I may say, 
with feelings of awe, perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, 
that I meet you here in this place. The history of this great State, the 
renown of those great men who have stood here, and spoke here, and 
been heard here, all crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink 
from any attempt to address you. Yet I have some confidence given 
me by the generous manner in which you have invited me, and by the 
still more generous manner in which you have received me, to speak 
further. You have invited and received me without distinction of 
party. I cannot for a moment suppose that this has been done in any 
considerable degree with reference to my personal services, but that it 
is done in so far as I am regarded at this tune as the representative of 
the majesty of this great nation. I doubt not this is the truth, and the 
whole truth, of the case, and this is as it should be. It is much more 
gratifying to me that this reception has been given to me as the repre- 
sentative of a free people, than it coidd possibly be if tendered as an 
evidence of devotion to me, or to any one man personally. And now I 
think it were more fitting that I should close these hasty remarks. It 



94 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's admixistkatiox, 

is true that, while I hold myself, without mock modostj, the humblest 
of all individuals that have ever been elevated to tlie Presidency, I have 
a more difficult task to perform than any one of them. You have gener- 
ously tendered me the united support of the great Empire State. For 
this, in behalf of the nation — in behalf of the present and future of the 
nation — in behalf of civil and religious liberty for all time to come, most 
gratefuUy do I thank you. I do not propose to enter into an explana- 
tion of any particular line of policy, as to our present difficulties, to be 
adopted by the incoming Administration. I deem it just to you, to 
myself, and to all, that I should see every thing, that I should hear 
every thing, that I should have every light that can be brought within 
my reach, in order that when I do so speak, I shaU' have enjoyed every 
opportunity to take correct and true grounds; and for this reason I 
don't propose to speak, at this time, of the policy of the Government. 
But when the time comes I shall speak, as well as I am able, for tho 
good of the present and future of this country — for the good both of 
the North and the South of this country — for the good of the one and 
the other, and of all sections of the country. [Rounds of applause.] 
In the mean time, if we have patience, if we restrain ourselves, if we 
allow ourselves not to run oif in a passion, I still have confidence that 
the Almighty, the Maker of the Universe, will, through the instrumen- 
tality of this great and intelligent people, bring us through this as he 
has through all the other difficulties of our countrj'. Eelying on this, I 
again thank you for this generous reception." [Applause and cheers.] 

On the raoniing of the 19th Mr. Lincoln went to Troy, 
and, in reply to the welcome of the Mayor, said: 

" Mr. Mayor and Citizexs of Troy: I thank you very kindly for this 
great reception. Since I left my homo it has not been my fortune to 
meet an assemblage more numerous and more orderly than this. I am 
the more gratified at this mark of your regard since you assure me it is 
tendered, not to the individual, but to the high office you have called 
mo to fill I have neither strength nor time to make any extended 
remarks, and I can only repeat to you my sincere thanks for the kind 
reception you have thougJit proper to extend to me." 

On the route to New York, by the Hudson River Railroac), 
very large crowds of people had assembled at the various sta- 
tions, to welcome liini. At Hudson he spoke as follows: 



SPEECH AT POUGHKEEPSIE. 95 

Fellow-Citizens: I see that you have provided a platform, but I 
shall have to decline standing on it. [Laugliter and applause.] The 
superintendent tells me I have not time during our brief stay to leave 
the train. I had to decline standing on some very handsome platforms 
prepared for me yesterday. But I say to you, as I said to them, you 
must not on this account draw the inference that I have any intention 
to deserc any platform I have a legitimate right to stand on. I do not 
appear before you for the purpose of making a speech. I come only to 
see you, and to give you the opportunity to see me, and I say to you, as I 
have before said to crowds where there are so many handsome ladies 
as there are here, I think I have decidedly the best of the bargain. I 
have only, therefore, to thank you most cordially for this kind reception, 
and bid you all farewell. 

At Poughkeepsie, where great preparations Lad been made 
for his reception, he responded thus to an address from the 
^Mayor : 

Fbllow-Citizen'S: It is altogether impossible I should make myself 
hoard by any considerable portion of this vast assemblage ; but, although 
I appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let 
j^ou see, rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying that I am 
highly gratified, — as much here, indeed, luider the circumstances, as I 
have been anywhere on my route, — to witness this noble demonstration 
— made, not in honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time 
humbly, but earnestly, represents the majesty of the nation. Tliia 
reception, like all others that have been tendered to me, doubtless 
emanates from all the political parties, and not from one alone. As 
such I accept it the more gratefully, since it indicates an earnest desire 
on the part of the whole people, without regard to political differences, 
to save — not the country, because the country wiU save itself — but to 
save the institutions of the country — those institutions under which, in 
the last three-quarters of a century, we have grown to be a great, an 
intelligent, and a happy people — the greatest, the most intelligent, and 
the happiest people in the world. These noble manifestations indicate, 
with unerring certainty, that the whole people are willing to make com- 
mon cause for this object; that if, as it ever must be, some have been 
successful in the recent election, and some have been beaten, — if some 
are satisfied, and some are dissatisfied, the defeated party are not in 
favor of sinkhig the ship, but are desirous of running it through the tem- 



96 PEEsiDE>T Lincoln's admixistration. 

pest in safety, and willing, if they think the people have committed an 
error in their verdict now, to wait in the hope of reversing it, and setting 
it right next time. I do not say that in the recent election the people 
did the wisest thing that could have been done; indeed, I do not think 
they did; but I do say, that in accepting the great trust committed to 
me, which I do with a determination to endeavor to prove worthy of it, 
I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole country, for sup- 
port; and with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as I am, cannot fail 
to carry the ship of State safely through the storm. 

I have now only to thank you warmly for your kind attendance, 
and bid you all an affectionate farewell. 

At Peekskili, in reply to a brief address from Judge Xelson, 
he said : 

Ladies axd GEJiTLEiiEN: I have but a moment to stand before you, 
to listen to and return your kind greeting. I thank you for this recep- 
tion and for the pleasant manner in which it is tendered to me, by our 
mutual friend. I wUl say in a single sentence, m regard to the difS- 
culties that lie before me and our beloved country, that if I can enly be 
as generously and unanimously sustained, as the demonstrations I have 
witnessed indicate I shall be, I shall not fail ; but without your sus- 
taining hands I am sure that neither I, nor any other man, can hope to 
surmount these difficulties. I trust that m the course I shall pursue I 
shall be sustained, not only by the party that elected me, but by the 
patriotic people of the whole country. 

The President-elect reached New York at 3 o'clock, and 
was received by an immense demonstration of popular en- 
thusiasm. Places of business were generally closed, and the 
streets were filled with people, eager to catch a glimpse of 
his person. On reaching the Astor House, he was compelled 
by the importunity of the assembled crowd to appear on the 
balcony, from which he said : 

Fet.low-Citizen'S : I have stepped before you merely in compliance 
v."ith what appears to be your wish, and not with the purpose of making 
a speech. I do not propose making a speech tliis afternoon. I could 
not bo heard by any but a small fraction of you at best; but, what is 



ME. LINCOLN R^^ NEW YORK. 97 

still worse than that, I have nothing just now to say that is worthy of your 
hearing. [Applause.] I beg you to believe that I do not now refuse 
to address you from any disposition to disoblige you, but to the con- 
trary. But, at the same time, I beg of 3'ou to e.xcuse me for the present. 

In the evening, Mr. LixcOLisr received a large deputation 
from the various Republican associations which had taken aa 
active part in the election canvass, and in reply to a brief 
welcome from Mr. E. D. Smith, on their behalf, he thus ad- 
dressed tbem : 

Mr. Chairmak and Gentlemen : I am rather an old man to avail myself 
of such an excuse as I am now about to do. Yet the truth is so distinct, 
and presses itself so distinctly upon me, that I cannot well avoid it — and 
that is, that I did not understand when I was brought into this room 
that I was brought here to make a speech. It was not intimated to me 
that I was brought into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry 
Clay had made speeches, and where, in my position, I might be ex- 
pected to do something like those men, or do something worthy of my- 
self or my audience. I, therefore, will beg you to make very groat 
allowance for the circumstances in which I have been by surprise 
brought before you. Now, I have been in the habit of thinking and 
speaking sometimes upon political questions that have for some years 
past agitated the country ; and, if I were disposed to do so, and we could 
take up some one of the issues, as the lawyers call them, and I were 
called upon to make an argument about it to the best of my abihty, I 
could do so without much preparation. But, that is not what you 
desire to be done here to-night. 

I have been occupying a position since the Presidential election of 
silence, of avoiding public speaking, of avoiding public writing. I have 
been doing so, because I thought, upon full consideration, that was the 
proper course for me to take. [Great applause.] I am brought before 
you now, and required to make a speech, when you all approve more 
than anything else of the fact that I have been keeping silence. [Great 
laughter, cries of " Good," and applause.] And now it seems to me that 
the i-esponse you give to that remark ought to justify me in closing just 
here. [Great laughter.] I have not kept silence since the Presidential 
election from any party wantonness, or from any indifference to the 
anxiety that pervades the minds of men about the aspect of the pohtical 



98 PRESIDENT LI2iC0LN's ADMENISTKATION. 

affairs of this country. I liavo kept silence for the reason that I sup- 
posed it was peculiarly proper that I sliould do so until the time came 
when, according to the custom of the country, I could speak officially. 

A Voice — The custom of the countrj' ? 

I heard some gentleman say " According to the custom of tlio 
country." I alluded to the custom of tlie President-elect, at the time of 
taking the oath of office. That is what I meant by " the custom of the 
country." I do suppose that, while the political drama being enacted 
in this country, at this time, is rapidly shifting its scones — forbidding an 
anticipation, ^\•ith any degree of certainty, to-day, what we shall see to- 
morrow — it was peculiarly fitting that I shoidd see it all, tip to the last 
minute, before I should take ground that I might be disposed (by the 
shifting of the scenes afterwards) also to sluft. [Applause.] I have 
said, several times, upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that 
when the time does come, I shall then take the ground that I think is 
right — [applause] — the ground that I think is right — [applause, and 
cries of " Grood, good"] — right for the Xortii, for the South, for the East, 
for the West, for the Avhole country. [Cries of "Good," "Hurrah for 
LixcoLN," and applause.] And in doing so, I liope to feel no necessity 
pressing upon me to say any thing in conflict with the Constitution ; in 
contlict with the continued tinion of these States — [applause] — in con- 
flict with the perpetuation of the liberties of this people — [applause] — 
or any thing in conflict with any thing whatever that I have ever given 
you reason to e.xpect from me. [Applaiise.] And now, my friends, 
have I said enough? [Loud cries of "Xo, no," and three cheers for 
Lincoln'.] Now, my friends, there appears to be a difl'erence of opinion 
between you aud me, and I really feel called upon to decide the question 
myself. [Applause, during which Mr. Lincoln descended from llie 
table.] 

On the niornirig of the 20th Mr. Lincoln proceeded to tlte 
City Hall, where it had been arranged that he should liave 
an official reception. He was there addressed by Mayor 
Wood in the following terms : 

Mr. Lincoln: As Mayor of New York, it becomes my duty to ex- 
tend to you an official welcome in behalf of the Corporation. In doing 
so permit me to say, that this city has never offered hospitality to a 
man clothed with more exalted powers, or resting under graver respon- 
sibiliUes, than those which circumstances have devolved upon you. 



REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF KEW YORK. 99 

Coming into ofEce with a dismembered Government to reconstruct, and 
a disconnected and hostile people to reconcile, it wiU require a high 
patriotism, and an elevated comprehension of the whole country and its 
varied interests, opinions, and prejudices, to so conduct public affairs as 
to bring it back again to its former harmonious, consolidated, and pros- 
perous condition. If I refer to this topic, sir, it is because New York 
is deeply interested. The present political divisions have sorely afflicted 
her people. All her material interests are paralyzed. Her commercial 
greatness is endangered. She is the child of the American Union. 
She has grown up under its maternal care, and been fostered by its 
paternal bounty, and we fear that if the Union dies, the present su- 
premacy of New York may perish with it. To you, therefore, chosen 
under the forms of the Constitution as the head of the Confederacy, we 
look for a restoration of fraternal relations between the States — only to 
be accomplished by peaceful and conciliatory means, aided by the 
wisdom of Almighty God. 

To this address Mr. Lincoln made the following reply : 

Mr. Mayor : It is with feelings of deep gratitude that I make my 
acknowledgments for the reception that has been given me in the great 
commercial city of New York. I cannot but remember that it is done 
by tlie people, who do not, by a large majority, agree with me in politi- 
cal sentiment. It is the more grateful to me, because in this I see that 
for the great principles of our Government the people are pretty nearly 
or quite unanimous. In regard to the difficulties that confront us at 
this time, and of which you have seen fit to speak so becomingly and 
so justly, I can only say that I agree with the sentiments expressed. 
In my devotion to the Union I hope I am behind no man in the nation. 
As to my wisdom in conducting aflairs so as to tend to the preservation 
of the Union, I fear too great confidence may have been placed in me. 
I am sure I bring a heart devoted to the work. There is nothing that 
could ever bring me to consent — willingly to consent — to the destruc- 
tion of this Union (in which not only the great city of New York, but 
the whole country, has acquired its greatness), unless it would be that 
thing for which the Union itself was made. I understand that the ship 
is made for the carrying and preservation of the cargo ; and so long as 
the ship is safe with the cargo, it shall not be abandoned. This Union 
shaU never be abandoned, unless the possibility of its existence shall 
cease to exist, without the necessity of throwing passengers and cargo 
overboard. So long, then, as it is possible that the prosperity and fiber- 



100 PKESiDEJfT Lincoln's administeation. 

ties of this people can be preserved within this Union, it shall be my 
purpose at all times to preserve it. And now, Mr. Mayor, renewing 
my thanks for this cordial reception, allow me to come to a close. 
[Applause.] 

On the morning of Thursday, the 21st, Mr. Lincoln k-ft 
New York for Philadelphia, and on reaching Jersey City was 
met and welcomed, on buhalf of the State, by the Hon. W. L. 
Dayton, to whose remarlis he made this reply : 

Mr. Datton axd Gextlemex of the State of Xew Jersey: I 
shall only thank you briefly for this very kind reception given me, not 
personally, but as the temporary representative of the majesty of the 
nation. [Applause.] To the kindness of your hearts, and of the hearts 
of your brethren in your State, I should be very proud to respond, but 
I shall not have strength to address you or other assemblages at length, 
even if I had the time to do so. I appear before you, therefore, for 
little else than to greet you, and to briefly say farewell. You have 
done me the very high honor to present your reception courtesies to me 
through your great man — a man with whom it is an honor to be asso- 
ciated anywhere, and in owning whom no State can be poor. [Ap- 
plause.] He has said enough, and by the saying of it suggested enough, 
to require a response of an hour well considered. [Applause.] I could 
not in an hour make a worthy response to it. I therefore, ladies and 
gentlemen of Xew Jersey, content myself with saying, most heartily do 
I indorse all the sentiments he has expressed. [Applause.] Allow me, 
most gratefully, to bid you farewell. [Applause.] 

At Newark he was welcomed by the Mayor, to whom he 
said : 

Mr. Mayor : I thank you for this reception at the city of Newark. 
With regard to the great work of which you speak, I will say that I 
bring to it a heart filled with love for my country, and an honest desire 
to do what is right. I am sure, however, that I have not the abihty to 
do any thing unaided of God, and that without his support, and that of 
this free, happy, prosperous, and intelligent people, no man can succeed 
in doing that the importance of which wo all comprehend. Again 
thanking you for the reception you have given me, I will now bid you 
farewell, and proceed upon my journey. 



MR. LINCOLN IN NEW JERSEY. 101 

At Trentoa he was received by a committee of the Legis- 
lature, and escorted to both branches, which were in session. 
The President of the Senate welcomed hira in a brief address, 
to which he made the following reply : 

Me. President and Gentlemen of the Senate op tue State op 
New Jersey: I am very grateful to you for the honorable reception 
of wliich I have been the object. I cannot but remember the place that 
New Jersey holds in our early history. In the early revolutionary 
struggle few of the States among the old thirteen had more of the battle- 
fields of the country within their limits than old New Jersey. May I 
be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I mention that away back in my 
chUdhood, the earhest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a 
small book, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, 
" Weem's Life of Washington.'''' I remember all the accounts there 
given of the battle-fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, 
and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the strug- 
gle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river ; the con- 
test with the Hessians ; the great hardships endured at that time, aU 
fixed themselves on my memory, more than any single revolutionary 
event ; and you aU know, for you have all been boys, how these early 
impressic5ns last longer than any others. I recollect tliinking then, boy 
even though I was, that there must have been something more than 
common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that 
that thing which they struggled for ; that something even more than 
National Independence ; that something that held out a great promise 
to all the people of the world to all time to come — I am exceedingly 
anxious that tliis Union, the Constitution, and the hberties of the people 
shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that 
struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an 
humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty and of this, his most 
chosen people, as the chosen instrument — also in the hands of the 
Almighty — for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. You 
give me this reception, as I understand, without distinction of party. I 
learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen who, in 
the exercise of their best judgment in the choice of a Chief Magistrate, 
did not think I was the man. I understand, nevertheless, that they 
come forward here to greet me as the constitutional President of the 
United States — as citizens of the United States to meet the man who, 



102 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION, 

for the time being, is the representative man of the nation — united by a 
purpose to perpetuate the Union and Uberties of the people. As such, 
I accept this reception more gratefully than I could do did I believe it 
■was tendered to me as an individual. 

Mr. Lincoln then j^assed to tlie Assembly Chamber, where, 
in reply to the Speaker, he said : 

Mr. Speaker axd Gentlemen: I have just enjoyed the honor of a 
reception by the other branch of this Legislature, and I return to you 
and them my thanks for the reception which the people of New Jersey 
have given through their chosen representatives to me as the rep- 
resentative, for the time being, of the majesty of the people of the 
United States. I appropriate to myself very httle of the demonstrations 
of respect with which I have been greeted. I think little should be 
given to any man, but that it should be a manifestation of adherence to 
the Union and the Constitution. I understand myself to be received 
here by the representatives of the people of New Jersey, a majority of 
whom differ in opinion from those with whom I have acted. This man- 
ifestation is, therefore, to be regarded by me as expressing their devotion 
to the Union, the Constitution, and the Hberties of the people. You, 
Mr. Speaker, have well said that this is a time when the bravest and 
wisest look with doubt and awe upon the aspect presented by our na- 
tional aflairs. Under these circumstances, you will readily see why I 
should not speak in detail of the course I shall deem it best to pursue. 
It is proper that I should avail myself of all the information and all the 
time at my command, in order that when the time arrives in which I 
must speak officially, I shall be able to take the ground which I deem 
the best and safest, and from which I may have no occasion to swerve. 
I shall endeavor to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the 
East, the West, the South, and tlie whole country. I take it, I hope, in 
good temper, certainly with no mahce towards any section. I shall do 
all that may bo in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our 
difficulties. The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than 
I am. [Cheers.] None who would do more to preserve it, but it may 
be necessary to put the foot down firmly. [Here the audience broke 
out into cheers so loud and long, that for some moments it was impossi- 
ble to hear Mr. Lincoln's voice.] And if I do my dut}' and do right 
you will sustain mo, will you not ? [Loud cheers, and cries of " Yes, 
yes, wo will."] Received, as I am, by the members of a Legislature, 



ARRIVAL AT PniLADELPHIA. 103 

tlie majority of whom do not agree with, me in political sentiments, I 
trust that I may have their assistance in piloting the ship of State 
through this voj^age, surrounded by perils as it is, for if it should suffer 
wreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage. 
Gentlemen, I have already spoken longer than I intended, and must beg 
leave to stop here. 

The procession then moved to the Trenton Ilouse, where 
the President-elect made the following speech to the crowd 
outside : 

I have been invited by your representatives to the Legislature, to 
visit this, the Capital of your honored State, and in acknowledging their 
kind invitation, compelled to respond to the welcome of the presiding 
officers of each body, and I suppose they intended I should speak to 
you through them, as they are the representatives of all of you ; and if 
I was to speak again here. I should only have to repeat, in a great 
measure, much that I have said, which would be disgusting to my 
friends around me who have met here. I have no speecli to make, but 
merely appear to see you and let you look at me, and as to the latter I 
tiiink I have greatly the best of the bargain. [Laughter.] My friends, 
allow me to bid you farewell. 

The party arrived at Philadelphia at 4 o'clock, and the 
President-elect, proceeding immediately to the Continental 
Hotel, was welcomed in a brief speech from Mayor Henry, to 
which he rephed as fohows : 

Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens of Philadelphia : I appear be- 
fore you to make no lengthy speech, but to thank you for this reception, 
The reception you have given me to-night is not to me, the man, the in- 
dividual, but to the man who temporarily represents, or should represent 
the majesty of the nation. [Cheers.] It is true, as your worthy Mayor 
has said, that there is anxiety amongst the citizens of the United States 
at this time. I deem it a happy circumstance that this dissatisfied posi- 
tion of our fellow-citizens does not point us to any thing in which they 
are being injured, or about to be injured, for which reason I have felt dl 
the while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, tlio anxiety 
of the country at this time, is artificial. If there be those who differ 
with we upon this subject, they have not pointed out the substantial 
difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an artificial panic may 



104 PEESIDEXT LIXCOLN's ADinXISTEATIOX. 

not do considerable harm : that it has done such I do not deny. The 
hope that has been expressed by your Mayor, that I may be able to re- 
store peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, is most worthy of 
him ; and happy, indeed, wOI I be if I shall be able to verify and fulfil 
that hope. [Tremendous cheering.] I promise you, in all sincerity, 
that I bring to the work a sincere heart. Whether I will bring a bead 
equal to that heart will be for future times to determine. It were use- 
less for me to speak of details of plans now; I shall speak ofiQcially next 
Monday week, if ever. If I sliould not speak then it were useless for 
me to do so now. If I do speak then it is useless for me to do so now. 
"When I do speak I shall take such ground as I deem best calculated to 
restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, and tend to the 
perpetuity of the nation and the liberty of these States and these people. 
Tour worthy Mayor has expressed ihe wish, in which I join with him, 
that it were convenient for me to remain in your city long enough to 
consult your merchants and manufacturers ; or as it were, to listen to 
those breathings rising within the consecrated walls wherein the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and I will add the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, were originally framed and adopted. [Enthusiastic applause.] I 
assure you and your ilayor that I had hoped on this occasion, and upon 
ah occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing inconsistent with the 
teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I never asked any thing 
that does not breathe from those walls. AU my political warfare has 
been in favor of the teachings that came forth from these sacred walls. 
May my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof 
of my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings. Fellow-citizens, 
I have addressed you longer than I expected to do, and now allow me to 
bid you good night. 

On the 21st Mr. Lincoln visited tbe old Independence Ilall, 
from which was originally issued the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. He was received in a cordial speech by Mr. Theodore 
Cuyler, to which he made the following response : 

Me. Cuyler : I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself stand- 
ing here in this place, where were collected togciher the wisdom, the 
patriotism, the devotion to principle from which sprang the institutions 
imder which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my 
hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition 
of the country. I can say in return, sir, that aU the political sentiments 



SPEECH IN PHILADELPHIA. 105 

I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to drasv them, 
from the sentiments which originated in and were given to the world 
from this hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring 
from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I 
have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the 
officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that Independence. I 
have often inquired of myself what greai principle or idea it was that 
kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter 
of the separation of the Colonies from the mother land, but that senti- 
ment in the Declaration of Independence which gave Hberty, not alone 
to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future 
time. [Great applause.] It was that which gave promise that in due 
time the weiglit would be Ufted from the shoulders of all men. This is 
the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my 
friends, can this country be saved upon that basis ? If it can, I will 
consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to 
save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle it will be truly awful. 
But if this cou-ntry cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I 
was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than sur- 
render it. [Applause.] Now, in my view of the present aspect of 
affairs, there need be no bloodshed or war. There is no necessity for it. 
I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance that there 
wiU be no bloodshed, unless it be forced upon the Government, and then 
it will be compelled to act in self-defence. [Applause.] 

My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did not expect 
to be called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was 
merely to do something towards raising the flag — I may, therefore, have 
said something indiscreet. [Cries of "No, no."] I have said nothing 
but what I am willing to live by, and if it be the pleasure of Almighty 
God, die by. 

One object of the visit to the Hall was, to Lave Mr. Lincoln 
assist in raising the national flag over the Hall. Arrangements 
had been made for the performance of this ceremony, and Mr. 
Lincoln was escorted to the platform prepared for the purpose, 
and was invited, in a brief address, to raise the flag. He re- 
sponded in a patriotic speech, announcing his cheerful compli- 
5* 



106 PEESIDEIiT LI2^C0UT's ADMINISTBATIOJ^^. 

ance with the request. He alluded to the oi'igiual flag of thir- 
teen stars, saying that the number had increased as time rolled 
on and we became a happy, powerful peuple, each star adding 
to its prosperity. The future is in the hands of the people. It 
was on such an occasion we could reason together, reafhrni our 
devotion to the country and the principles of the Declaration 
of Independence. Lot us make up our minds, said he, that when- 
ever we do put a new star upon our banner, it shall be a fixed 
one, never to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but brightened 
by the contentment and prosperity of peace. Let us go on to ex- 
tend the area of our usefulness, and add star upon star until their 
light shall shine over five hundred millions of free and happy 
people. He then performed his part in the ceremony, amidst 
a thundering discharge of artillery. 

In the afternoon he left for the West. On reaching Lancas- 
ter he was received with a salute, and replied to an address of 
welcome in the following words : 

Ladies and Gentlemen of Old Lancaster: I appear not to mate 
a speech. I have not time to make a speech at length, and not strength 
to make them on every occasion, and worse than all I have none to make. 
There is plenty of matter to speak about in these times, but it is well 
known that the more a man speaks the less he is understood — the more 
he says one thing, the more his adversaries contend ho meant something 
else. I shall soon have occasion to speak oCQcially, and then I will en- 
deavor to pat my thoughts just as plain as I can express myself— true 
to the Constitution and Union of all the States, and to the perpetual lib- 
erty of all the people. Until I so speak, there is no need to enter upon 
details. In conclusion, I greet you most heartily, and bid you an afifen- 
tionate farewell. 

On reaching Harrisburg, on the U2d, Mr. Lincoln was 
escorted to the Legislature, and was welcomed by the presi- 
ding officers of the two houses, to whom he replied as foUuws: 

I appear before you only for a very few, brief remarks, in response to 
what has been said to me. I thank you most sincerely for this recep- 
tion and the generous words in which support has been promised me 



ME. LINCOLN AT HAKiaBUKG. 107 

upon tills occasion. I thank your great Commonwealth for the over- 
whelming support it recently gave, not me personally, but the cause 
which I think a just one, in the late election. [Loud applause.] 
Allusion has been made to the fact — the interesting fact, perhaps, we 
should say— that I for the first time appear at the Capital of the great 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania upon the birthday of the Father of his 
Country, in connection with that beloved anniversary connected with 
the history of this country. I have already gone through one exceed- 
ingly interesting scene tliis morning in the ceremonies at Philadelphia. 
Under the high conduct of gentlemen there, I was for the first time 
allowed the privilege of standing in old Independence Hall [Enthu- 
siastic cheering], to have a few words addressed to me there, and open- 
ing up to me an opportunity of expressing, with much regret, that I had 
not more time to express something of my own feelings, excited by the 
occasion, somewhat to harmonize and give shape to the feehngs that 
had been really the feeUngs of my whole life, Besides this, our friends 
there had provided a magnificent flag of the country. They had 
arranged it so that I was given the honor of raising it to th.e head of its 
staff. [Applause.] And when it went up I was pleased that it went 
to its place by the strength of my own feeble arm, when, according to 
the arrangement, the cord was pulled, and it floated gloriously to the 
wind, without an accident, in the light, glowing sunshine of the morning. 
I could not help hoping that there was. in the entire success of that 
beautiful ceremony, at least something of an omen of what is to come. 
[Loud applause.] How could I help feeling then as I often have felt? 
In the whole of that proceeding I was a very humble instrument. I had 
not provided the flag ; I had not made the arrangements for elevating 
it to its place; I had applied but a very small portion of my feeble 
strength in raising it. In the whole transaction I was in the hands of 
the people wlio had arranged it, and if I can ha\'e the same generous 
co-operation of the people of the nation, I think the flag of our country 
may yet be kept flaunting gloriously. [Loud, enthusiastic, and con- 
tinued cheers.] I recur for a moment but to repeat some words uttered 
at the hotel, in regard to what has been said about the military support 
which the General Government may expect from the Commouweallli of 
Pennsylvania in a proper emergencJ^ To guard against any possible 
mistake do I recur to this. It is not with any pleasure that I contem- 
plate the possibility that a necessity may arise in this country for the 
use of the military arm, [Applause.] While I am exceedingly grati- 
fied to see the manifestation upon your streets of your miUtary force 



108 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S AOillNISTEATION. 

here, aud exceedingly gratified at your promises here to use that force 
upon a proper emergency — while I make these acknowledgments, I desire 
to repeat, in order to preclude any possible misconstruction, that I do 
most sincerely hope that we shall have no use for them. [Applause.] 
That it ^\'ill never become their duty to shed blood, and most especially 
never to shed fraternal blood. I promise that, so far as I may have wis- 
dom to direct, if so painful a result shall in anywise be brought about, it 
shall be through no fault of mine. [Cheers.] Allusion has also been 
made by one of your honored speakers to some remarks recently made 
by myself at Pittsburg, in regard to what is supposed to be the espe- 
cial interest of this groat Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I now wish 
only to say, in regard to that matter, that the few remarks which I 
uttered on that occasion were rather carefully worded. I took pains 
that they should be so. I have seen no occasion since to add to them, 
or subtract from them. I leave them precisely as they stand [applause], 
adding only now that I am pleased to have an expression from you, 
gentlemen of Pennsylvania, significant that they are satisfactory to you. 
And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, aUow me to return you again my most sincere thanks. 

After tlic delivery of this addre.-^ii, Mr. Lincoln devoted 
some hours to the reception of visitors, and at si.x o'clock 
retired to his room. The next morning the whole conntry 
was surprised to learn that he had arrived in Washington — 
tw,elve hours sooner than he had originally intended. His 
sudden departure proved to have been a measure of precau- 
tion for which events subsequently disclosed afforded a full 
justification. For some time previous to his departure from 
home, the rumor had been current that he would never reach 
the Capital alive. An attempt was made on the Toledo and 
"Western Railroad, on the 11th of February, to throw from the 
track the train on which he was journeying, and just as he 
was leaving Cincinnati a hand grenade was found to have 
been secreted on board the cars. These and other circum- 
stances led to an organized and thorough investigation, under 
the direction of a police detective, carried on with great skill 
and perseverance at Baltimore, and which resulted in dis- 



AUKIVAL AXD EECEPTIOX AT WASHINGTON}. lOS 

closing the fact that a small gang of assassins, under the 
leadership of an Italian who assumed the name of Orsini, had 
arranged to take his life during his passage through Baltimore. 
Gen. Scott and Mr. Seward had both been apprised of the 
same fact through another source, and they had sent Mr. F. 
W. Seward as a special messenger to Philadelphia, to meet the 
President-elect there, previous to his departure for Harrisburg, 
and give him notice of these circumstances. ^Iv. Lincoln dii 
not deviate from the programme he had marked out for himself, 
in consequence of these communications; except that, under the 
advice of friends, he deemed it prudent to anticipate by one 
train the time he was expected to arrive in Washington. lie 
reached there on the morning of Saturday, the 23d. 

On Wednesday, the 27th, the Mayor and Common Council 
of the city waited upon Mr. Lincoln, and tendered him a web 
come. He replied to them as follows : 

Mr. Mayor: I thank vou, and through you the municipal authorities 
of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as it is tlie first 
time in my life since the present phase of politics has presented itself in 
this country, tliat I have said any thing pubhcly within a region of country 
where the institution of slavery exists, I will tal^e this occasion to say, 
that I thinlv very much of the ill-feeling that has existed and still exists 
between the people in the sections from which I came and the people 
here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one another. I therefore 
avail myself of this opportunity to assure you, Mr. Mayor, and all the 
gentlemen present, that I have not now, and never have had, any other 
than as kindly feehngs towards you as the people of my own section. I 
have not now, and never have had, any disposition to treat you in any 
respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I have not now any pur- 
pose to withhold from you any of the benefits of the Constitution, under 
any circumstances, that I would not feel myself constrained to withhold 
from my own neighbors ; and I hope, in a word, that when we shall be- 
come better acquainted, and I say it with great confidence, we shall like 
eacli other the more. I thank you for the kindness of this reception. 

On the next evening a serenade was given to Mr. Lincoln 



110 PBESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMIXISTEATION. 

by the members of the Republican Association, and he then 
addressed the crowd which the occasion had brought together, 
as follows: 

My Friends: I suppose that I may take this as a compliment paid to 
me, and as such please accept 1117 thanks for it. I have reached this city 
of Washington under circumstances considerably differing from those un- 
der w^iich any other man lias ever reached it. I am here for the pur- 
pose of taking an officiid position amongst the people, almost all of whom 
were politically opposed to me, and are yet opposed to me, as I suppose. 

I propose no lengthy address to you. I only propose to say, as I did 
on yesterday, when your worthy Mayor and Board of Aldermen called 
upon me, that I thought much of the ill feeling that has existed betw^cen 
you and the people of your surroundings and that people from among 
whom I came, has depended, and now depends, upon a misunderstand- 
ing. 

I hope that, if things shall go along as prosperously as I believe we all 
desire they may, I may have it in my power to remove something of this 
misunderstanding; that I maybe enabled to convince you, and the people 
of your section of the country, that we regard you as in all things our 
equals, and in all things entitled to the same respect and the same treat- 
ment that we claim for ourselves ; that we are in nowise disposed, if it 
were in our power, to oppress you, to deprive you of any of j-'our rights 
under the Constitution of the United States, or even narrowly to split 
hairs with you in regard to these rights, but are determined to give you, 
as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under the Constitution — not 
grudgingly, but fully and fairly. [Applause.] I hope that, by thus deal- 
ing with you, we will become better acquainted, and be better friends. 

And now, my friends, with these few remarks, and again returning 
my tlianks for this compliment, and expressing my dssireto hear a little 
more of your good mu.«ic, I bid you good night. 

Tins closed Mr. Lincoln's public speeches down to the date 
of his inauuniration. 



THE INAUGUIJATION. Ill 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM TUE INAUGURATION TO THE MEETING OF CONGRESS, 
JULY 4, 1861. 

On tlie 4tli of March, 1861, Mr. Lincoln took the oath 
and assumed the duties of the Presidential office. He was 
quite right in saying, on the eve of his departure from his 
home in Springfield, that those duties were greater than had 
devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. 
A conspiracy which had been on foot for thirty years had 
reached its crisis. Yet in spite of all that had been done by 
the leading spirits in this movement, the people of the slave- 
holding States were by no means a unit in its support. Seven 
of those States, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, had passed secession or- 
dinances and united in the establishment of a hostile Confed- 
cracv ; but in nearly all of them a considerable portion of the 
people were opposed to the movement, while in all the re- 
maining slaveholding States a very active canvass was carried 
on between the friends and the opponents of secession. In 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee especially, the 
Government of the United States was vindicated and its 
authority sustained by men of pre-eminent ability and of com- 
manding reputation, and there seemed abundant reason for 
hoping that, by the adoption of prudent measures, the s!ave- 
holding section might be divided and the Border Slave States 
retained in the Union. The authorities of the rebel Confed- 
eracy saw the importance of pushing the issue to an instant de- 
cision. Under their directions nearly all the forts, arsenals, 
dock-yards, custom-houses, etc., belonging to the United States, 
within the limits of the seceded States, had been seized and 



] 12 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADMI>-ISTKATIOX. 

•were held by representatives of the rebel government. The 
only forts in the South which remained in possession of the 
Union, were Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson on the 
Florida coast, and Fort Samter in Charleston harbor, and pre- 
parations were far advanced for the reduction and capture of 
these. Officers of the army and navy from the South had 
resicrned their commissions and entered the rebel service. 
Civil officers representing the United States within the limits 
of the Southern States could no longer discharge their func- 
tions, and all the powers of that Government were practically 
paralyzed. 

It was under these circumstances that Mr. Lincoln entered 
upon the duties of his office, and addressed himself to the 
task, first, of withholding the Border States from joining the 
Confederacy, as an indispensable preliminary to the great work 
of quelling the rebellion and restoring the authority of the 
Constitution. 

The ceremony of inauguration took place as usual in front 
of the Capitol and in presence of an immense multitude of 
spectators. A large military force was in attendance under 
the immediate command of General Scott, but nothing oc- 
curred to interrupt the harmony of the occasion. Before 
taking the oath of office Mr. Lincoln delivered the following 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

Fellow- Citizens of the Waited States : 

In compliance with a custDra as old as the Government itself, I ap- 
pear before 3'ou to address you briefly, and to take in your presence the 
oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by 
the President "before he eaters on the execution of his ofSce." 

I do not consider it i;«)cessary at present for me to discuss those 
matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or ex- 
citement. 

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern 
States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their prop- 
erty and their peace and personal security are to be endangered 



THE IKAUGUEAL ADDRESS. 113 

There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. 
Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while exist- 
ed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the 
pubhshed speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote 
from one of those speeches when I declare that " I have no purpose, 
directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and 
I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated and elected mo 
did so with full knowledge that I had made this and taany similar dec- 
larations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they 
placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves 
and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now road : 

Besolied, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, 
and especially the right of each State, to order and control its own do- 
mestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is es- 
sential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance 
of our iDolitical fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by 
armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter imder what 
pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. 

I now reiterate these sentiments ; and, in doing so, I only press upon 
tlie public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is 
susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to 
be in anywise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I 
add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitu- 
tion and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the 
States, when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause — as cheerfully to 
one section as to another. 

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from 
service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the 
Constitution as any other of its provisions: 

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws there- 
of, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be duo. 

It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those 
who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves ; and 
the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress 
swear their support to the whole Constitution — to this provision as 
much as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves, whose cases 



114 PEESIDEJfT LIXCOLN's ADMINISTRATION^. 

come within the terms of this clause, " shall be dehvered up," their oaths 
arc unanimous. Now, if they would make the efifort in good temper, 
could tliey not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by 
means of which to keep good that unanimous oath ? 

There is some difiference of opinion whether this clause should be en- 
forced by National or by State authority ; but surely that difference is 
not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be 
of but little consequence to him, or to others, by which authority it is 
done. And should any one, in any case, be content that his oath sliall 
go unkept, on a mere unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be 
kept? 

Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of 
liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, 
so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave ? A nd 
might it not be well, at the same time, to provide by law for the en- 
forcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the 
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities 
of citizens in the several States ?" 

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with 
no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical 
rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of 
Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it -nill be much 
safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide 
by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, 
trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional. 

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President 
under our National Constitution. During that period, fifteen different 
and greatly distinguished citizens have, in succession, administered the 
Executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through 
many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with aU this scope 
for precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitu- 
tional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulty. A dis- 
ruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formid- 
ably attempted. 

I hold that, in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, 
ihe Unwn of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not ex- 
pressed, in the fundamental law of all National Governments. It is safe 
to assert that no Government proper ever hud a provision in its organic 
law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express pro- 
visions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever — 



THE IKAUGUEAL ADDRESS. 115 

it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided 
for in the instrument itself. 

Again, if the United States be not a Government proper, but an as- 
sociation of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, 
be peaceably unmade by less than all tlie parties who made it? One 
party to a contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it 
not require all to lawfully rescind it ? 

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition 
that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the 
history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Con- 
stitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 
1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independ- 
ence in 177G. It was further matured, and tlie faith of aU the then 
Thirteen States expressly phghted and engaged that it should be per- 
petual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787, 
one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitu- 
tion was "to form a more perfect union." 

But if destruction of the Union, by one, or by a part only, of the 
States, be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before, the 
Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. 

It follows, from these views, that no State, upon its own mere motion, 
can lawfully get out of the Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that 
effect are legally void ; and that acts of violence within any State or 
States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary 
or revolutionary, according to circumstances. 

I, therefore, consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, 
the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, 
as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of 
the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem 
to be only a simple duty on my part ; and I shall perform it, so far as 
practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall 
withhold the requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct 
the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only 
as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend 
and maintain itself 

In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall 
be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power 
confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property 
and places belonging to the Government, and to collect the duties and 
unposts ; but beyond what may be but necessary for these objects, there 



116 PEESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people any- 
where. Where hostility to the United States, in any interior locality, 
shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens 
from holding the Federal offices, there wiU be no attempt to force ob- 
noxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict 
legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these 
offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly im- 
practicable withal, I deem it better to forego, for the time, the uses 
of such offices. 

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be famished in all parts 
of the Union. So far ns po.'sible, the people everywhere shall have 
that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought 
and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless 
current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be 
proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be 
exercised, according to circumstances actually existing, and with a view 
and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the res- 
toration of fraternal sympathies and affections. 

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy 
the Union at all events, and are gl^d of any pretext to do it, I will 
neither affirm nor deny ; but if tliere be such, I need address no word 
to them. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not 
speak ? 

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our 
national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would 
it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it ? Will you hazard 
so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of tlie 
ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain 
ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from — wdl you 
risk the commission of so fearful a mistake? 

All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can 
be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the 
Constitution, has been denied ? I think not. Happily the human mind 
is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing tliis. 
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written pro- 
vision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force 
of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written 
constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justif}' revolution 
— certoiuly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our 
case. All tlie vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly 



THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 117 

assured to them by aflQrmations and negations, guarantees and prohibi- 
tions in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning 
them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifi- 
cally applicable to every question which may occur in practical adminis- 
tration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable 
length contain, express provisions for all possible questions. Shall 
fugitives from labor be surrendered by National or by State authority ? 
The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit 
slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. 
Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution 
does not expressly say. 

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, 
and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority 
will not acquiesce the majority must, or the Government must cease. 
There is no other alternative ; for continuing the Government is ac- 
quiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will 
secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, 
will divide and ruin them ; for a minority of their own will secede from 
them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. 
For instance, why may not any portion of a new Confederacy, a year or 
two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present 
Union now claim to secede from it ? All who cherish disunion senti- 
ments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. 

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to com- 
pose a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed 
secession? 

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A 
majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and 
always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and 
sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects 
it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to depotism. Unanimity is im- 
possible ; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is whoUy 
inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or des- 
potism in some form is all that is left. 

I do not forget the position assumed by some, that constitutional 
questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court ; nor do I deny that 
such decisions must be binding, in any case, upon the parties to a suit 
as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high 
respect and consideration in all parallel cases by aU other departments 
of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such de- 



118 PKESiDENT Lincoln's administration. 

cisions may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following 
it being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be 
overruled, and never become a precedent for other cases, can better bo 
borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time tho 
candid citizen must confess that if the pohcy of the Government upon 
vital questions affecting tlie whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by 
ducisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary 
litigation between parties in personal actions the people wiU liave ceased 
to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their 
government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. 

Nor is there is this view any assault upon the Court of the Judges. 
It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly 
brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn 
their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes 
slavery is riglit, and ought to be extended, while the otlier believes it is 
wrong, and ouglit not to be extended. Tiiis is the only substantial dis- 
pute. The fugitive slave clause of tlio Constitution, and the law for the 
suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, 
as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the 
people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people 
abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in 
each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse 
in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. Tlio 
foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately 
revived without restriction in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now 
only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the 
other. 

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. TTe cannot remove our 
respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall be- 
tween them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the 
presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the different parts of 
our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and 
intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. It 
is impossible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or 
more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make 
treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faith- 
fully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends ? Suppose 
you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old 
questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. 



TUE IN^AUGUKAI. ADDRESS. 119 

This coniitiy, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit 
it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they 
can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolu- 
tionaiy right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the 
fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the 
national Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of 
amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over 
the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in 
the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor, 
rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act 
upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the convention mode seems 
preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people 
themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject proposi- 
tions originated by others not especially chosen for the purpose, and 
which might not be precisely such as they would wisli to either accept 
or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution — 
which amendment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to 
the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the 
domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to 
service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from 
my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, 
holding such a provision now to be implied constitutional law, I have no 
objections to its being made express and irrevocable. 

The Cliief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and 
they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the 
States. The peojile themselves can do this also if they choose ; but the 
pjxecutive, as such, has nothing to do with it. Ilis duty is to administer 
the present Government as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, 
unimpaired by him, to his successor. 

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice 
of the people ? Is there any better or equal hope in the world ? In 
our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the 
right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal truth and 
justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that 
truth and that justice will surelj prevail, by the judgment of this great 
tribunal of the American people. 

By the frame of the Government under which we live, the same 
people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mis- 
chief; and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that 
little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people 



120 PKESIDENT LINCOLIf's ADMlNISTEATIO:!f, 

retain their virtue and vigilance, no Administration, by any extreme of 
wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the Government in tlie 
ehort space of four years. 

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole 
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an 
object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never 
take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time ; but 
no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dis- 
satisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensi- 
tive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new Admin- 
istration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. 
If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side 
in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. 
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm rehance on Him who 
has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, 
in the best way, all our present difQculty. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is 
the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. 

You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. 
Tou have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government ; 
while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and 
defend" it. 

I am loth to close. "We are not enemies, but friends. "We must not 
be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our 
bonds of affection. 

The mystic cord of memory, stretching from every battle-field and 
patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad 
land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as 
surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. 

The declarations of the Inaugural, as a general thing, gave 
satisfaction to the loyal people of the whole country. It was 
seen, everywhere, that while President Lincoln felt con- 
strained, by the most solemn obligations of duty, to maintain 
the authority of the Government of the United States over all 
the territory within its jurisdiction, whenever that authority 
should be disputed by the actual exercise of armed force, he 
would nevertheless do nothing whatever to provoke such a 
demonstration, and would take no step which could look like 



ORGANIZATION" OF THE GOVERNMENT. 121 

violence or offensive warfare upon the seceded States. In the 
Border States its reception was in the main satisfactdry. But, 
as a matter of course, in those States, as elsewhere throughout 
the South, the secession leaders gave it the most hostile con- 
struction. No effort was spared to inflame the public mind 
by representing the Inaugural as embodying the purpose of 
the President to make war upon the Southern States for their 
attempt to secure a redress of wrongs. 

The President's first act was to construct his Cabinet, 
which was done by the appointment of William H, Seward, 
of New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, 
Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, 
Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, Secretary 
of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the 
Interior; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster-Gen- 
eral; and Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney-General. 
These nominations were all confirmed by the Senate, and 
these gentlemen entered upon the discharge of the duties of 
their several oflBces. 

On the 12th of March, Messrs. John Forsyth, of Alabama, 
and Crawford, of Georgia, requested an unoflicial interview 
with the Secretary of State, which the latter declined. On 
the 13th they sent to him a communication informing him 
that they were in Washington as Commissioners from a gov- 
ernment composed of seven States which had withdra\vn from 
the American Union, and that they desired to enter upon 
negotiations for the adjustment of all questions growing out 
of this separation. Mr. Seward, by direction of the President, 
declined to receive them, because it " could not be admitted 
that the States referred to had, in law or fact, withdrawn fi'om 
the Federal Union, or that they could do so in any other 
manner than with the consent and concert of the people of 
the United States, to be given through a National Convention 
to be assembled in conformity with the provisions of the Con- 
6 



122 PEEsiDENT li:n-coln's administration. 

stitution of the United States." This communicaioi), though 
written on the 15th of March, was withheld, with the consent 
of the Commissioners, until the 8th of April, when it was 
delivered. The fact of its receipt, and its character, were 
instantly telegraphed to Charleston, and it was made the 
occasion for precipitating the revolution by an act which, it 
was believed, would unite all the Southern States in support 
of the Confederacy. On the day of its receipt, the 8th of 
April, Gen. Beauregard, at Charleston, telegraphed to L. P. 
AValker, the rebel Secretary of War, at Montgomery, that '"an 
authorized messenger from President Lincoln had just informed 
Gov. Pickens and himself that provisions would be sent to Fort 
Sumter peaceably, or, otherwise, by force." Gen. B. was in- 
structed to demand the surrender of the fort, which he did on 
the 11th, and was at once informed by Major Anderson, who 
was in command, that his " sense of honor and his obligations 
to his Government prevented his compliance." On the night 
of the same day Gen. Beauregard wrote to Major Anderson, 
by orders of his government, that if he " would state the time 
at which he would evacuate Fort Sumter" (as it was known 
that it must soon be evacuated for lack of provisions) " and 
will agree that, in the mean time, you will not use your guns 
against us unless ours shall be employed against Fort Sumter, 
we will abstain from opening fire upon you." At half-past 
two in the morning of the 12th, Major Anderson replied that 
he would evacuate the fort by noon on the 15th, abiding, 
mean time, by the terms proposed, unless he should " receive, 
prior to that, controlling instructions from his Government, 
or additional supplies." In reply to this note he was noti- 
fied, at half-past three, that the rebels would open their bat- 
teries upon the fort in one hour from that time. This they 
did, and, after a bombardment of thirty-three hours, Major 
Anderson agreed to^evacuate the fort, which he carried into 
effect on Sunday morninor, the 14th. 



THE BOMBAKDMENT OF SUMTER. 123 

The effect of this open act of war was, in some respects, 
precisely what had been anticipated by the rebel authorities : 
in other respects, it was very difierent. Upon the Southern 
States it had the effect of arousing public sentiment to the 
highest pitch of enthusiasm, and of strengthening the rebel 
cause. At the North, it broke down, for the moment, all party 
distinctions and united the people in a cordial and hearty sup- 
port of the Government. 

The President regarded it as an armed attack upon the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, in support of the combination 
which had been organized into a Confederacy to resist and 
destroy its authority, and he saw, at once, that it could be met 
and defeated only by the force placed in his hands for the 
maintenance of that authority. He, accordingly, on the loth 
of April, issued the following 



PROCLAMATION. 
By the President of the United Slates. 

Whereas, the laws of the United States have been for some time past 
and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States 
of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary 
course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals 
by law : now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the 
laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia 
of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000, 
in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly 
executed. 

The details for this object wUl be immediately commvmicated to the 
State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to aU loyal citi- 
zens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integ- 
rity, and existence of our national Union, and the perpetuity of popular 
government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem 
it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called 



124 PRESIDENT LLKCOLN's AUillNISTKATION. 

forth, -will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which 
have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care 
will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any 
devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any 
disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country; and I hereby 
command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse 
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from 
this date. 

Deeming that the present condition of pubhc affairs presents an ex- 
traordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested 
by the Constitution, convene both houses of Congress. The Senators 
and Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble at their re- 
spective Chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day 
of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures 
as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the mde- 
pendence of the United States the eighty-fifth. 

Abraham Lincoln. 
By tne President. 

■William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

The issue of this Proclamation created the most intense en- 
thusiasm throughout the country. Scarcely a voice was raised 
in any of the Northern States against this measure, which was 
seen to be one of absolute necessity and of self-defence on the 
part of the Government. Every Northorn State responded 
promptly to the President's demand, and from private persons, 
as well as by the Legislatures, men, arms, and money were of- 
fered, in unstinted profusion and with the most zealous alacrity, in 
support of the Government. Massachusetts was first in the field : 
and on the first day after the issue of the Proclamation, her Sixth 
Regiment, completely equipped, started from Boston for the 
National Capital. Two more regiments were also made ready, 
and took their departure within forty-eight hours. The Sixth 
Regiment, on its way to Wjishington, on the 19th, was attacked 



PASSAGE OP TKOCPS THROUGH BALTIMORE. 125 

by a mob in Baltimore, carrying- a secession flag, and several 
of its members were killed or severely wounded. This inflamed 
to a still higher point the excitement which already pervaded 
the country. The whole Northern section of the Union felt 
outraged that troops should be assailed and murdered on their 
way to protect the capital of the nation. In Maryland, where 
tlie Secession party was strong, there was also great excite- 
ment, and the Governor of the State and the Mayor of Balti- 
more united in urging, for prudential reasons, that no more 
troops should be brought through that city. To their repre- 
sentation the President made the following reply : 

"Washington, April 29, 1861. 
Governor Hieks and Mayor Brown: 

Gentlemen : Your letter by Messrs. Bond, Dobbin, and Brune is re- 
ceived. I tender you both my sincere thanlcs for your eflbrts to keep 
the peace in the trying situation in whicli you are placed. 

For the future, troops must be brought here, but I make no point of 
bringing them through Baltimore. Without any military knowledge my- 
self, of course I must leave details to General Scott. He hastily said this 
morning in the presence of these gentlemen, " March them around Balti- 
more and not through it." I sincerely hope the General, on fuller reflec- 
tion, will consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object 
to it By this a collision of the people of Baltimore with the troops will 
be avoided, unless they go out of their way to seek it. I hope you will 
exert your influence to prevent this. 

Now and ever I shall do all in my power for peace consistently with 
the maintenance of the Government. 

Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. 

And in further response to the same request from Governor 
Hicks, followed by a suggestion that the controversy between 
the North and South might be referred to Lord Lyons, the 
British minister, for arbitration, President Lincoln, through 
the Secretary of State, made the following reply : 



126 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

Depaiitment of State, April 23, 1861. 
JTis Excellency Thos. H. Hicks, Governor of Maryland : 

Sir : I have had the honor to receive your communication of this 
moraini^, in which you inlurm me that you have felt it to be your duty 
to advise the President of the United States to order elsewhere the 
troops then off Annapolis, aud also that no more may be sent through 
Maryland ; and that you have further suggested that Lord Lyons be re- 
quested to act as mediator between the contending parties in our country, 
to prevent the effusion of blood. 

The President directs me to aclinowledge the receipt of that commu- 
nication, and to assure you that he has weighed the counsels it contains 
with the respect which he habitually cherishes for the Chief Magistrates 
of the several States, and especially for yourself. He regrets, as deeply 
as any magistrate or citizen of this country can, that demonstrations 
against the safety of the United States, with very extensive jn-eparations 
for the effusion of blood, have made it his duty to call out the forces to 
whieh you allude. 

The force now sought to be brought through Maryland, is intended 
for nothing but the delence of the capital. The President has necessa- 
rily confided the choice of the national highway which that force shall 
take in coming to this city to the Lieutenant-Gcneral commanding the 
Army of the United States, who, like his only predecessor, is not less 
distinguished for his humanity, than for his loyalty, patriotism, and dis- 
tinguished public sendee. 

The President instructs me to add, that the national highway thus 
selected by the Lieutenaut-General, has been chosen by him, upon con- 
sultation with prominent magistrates and citizens of Maryland, as the 
one which, while a route is absolutely necessary, is farthest removed 
from the populous cities of the State, and with the expectation that it 
would therefore be the least objectionable one. 

The President cannot but remember that there has been a time in the 
history of our country when a general of the American Union, with 
forces designed for the defence of its capital, was not unwelcome any- 
where in the State of Maryland, and cei-tainly not at Annapolis, then, as 
now, the capital of that patriotic State, and then, also, one of the capitals 
of the Union. 

If eighty years could have obliterated all the other noble sentiments 
of that age in Maryland, the President would be hopeful, nevertheless, 
that there is one that would forever remain there and everywhere. That 
sentiment is, that no domestic contention whatever that may arise among 
the parties of this Republic, ought in any case to be referred to any for- 
eign arbitrament, least of all to the arbitrament of a European monarchy. 

I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, your Excel- 
lency's most obedient servant, 

William H. Sewakd. 



i 



liiTTEBVIEW WITH THE MAYOR OF BALXniORli:. 127 

At the President's request, the mayor of Baltimore, and a 
mimber of the leadinaj influential citizens of Maryland, waited 
upon him at Washington, and had an open conference upon 
the condition of affairs in that State. The Mayor subse- 
quently made the followin;^ report of the interview : 

The President, upon his part, rccog-uizccl the good faith of the city and 
State authorities, and insisted upon his own. He admitted the excited 
state of feeling in Baltimore, and his desire and duty to avoid the fatal 
consequences of a collision Mith the people. He urjjcd, on the other 
hand, the absolute, irresistible necessity of having a transit through the 
State for such troops as might he necessary for the protection of the 
Federal Capital. The protection of Washington, he asseverated with great 
earnestness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there ; and he 
protested that none of tlie troops brought through Maryland were in- 
tended for any purposes hostile to the State, or aggressive as against the 
Southern States. Being now unable to bring them up the Potomac in 
security, the Government must cither bring them through Maryland or 
abandon the capital. 

He called on General Scott for his opinion, which the General gave at 
length, to the effect that troops might be brought through Maryland, 
without going through Baltimore, by either carrying them from Peri-ys- 
ville to Annapolis, and thcnee by rail to Washington, or by bringing them 
to the Relay House on the Northern Central Railroad, and marching them 
to the Relay House on the Washington Railroad, arid thence by rail to 
the Capital. If the people -would permit them to go by either of those 
routes uninterruptedly, the necessity of their passing through Baltimore 
would be avoided. If the people would not permit them a transit thus 
remote from the city, they must select their own best route, and, if need 
be, fight their way through Baltimore — a result which the General earnestly 
deprecated. 

The President expressed his hearty concurrence in tlie desire to avoid 
a collision, and said that no more troops should be ordered through Balti- 
more, if they were permitted to go ititerruptedly by either of the otlier 
routes suggested. In this disposition the Secretary of War expressed 
his participation. 

Mayor Brown assured the President that the city authorities would use 
all lawful means to prevent their citizens from leaving Baltimore to 
attack the troops in passing at a distance; but he urged, at the same 
time, the impossibility of their being able to promise any thing more 
than their best efforts in that direction. The excitement was great, he 
told the President ; the people of all classes were fully aroused, and it 
was impossible for any one to answer for the consequences of the pres- 



128 PRESIDENT LrsrCOLX's ADMIiaSTRATlON'. 

ence of Northern troops anywhere within our borders. He reminded 
the President, also, that tlie jurisdiction of the city authorities was con- 
lined to their o^^ti population, and that he could jrive no promises for the 
people elsewhere, because he would be unable to keep them if given. 
The President frankly acknowledged this difiSculty, and said that the 
Government would only ask the city authorities to use their best efforts 
with respect to those under their jurisdiction. 

Tlie interview terminated mth the distinct assurance, on the part of 
the President, that no more troops would be fsent through Baltimore 
unless obstructed in their transit in other directions, and ^vith the under- 
standing that the city authorities should do their best to restrain their 
own people. 

In accordance with this ■nnderstanding', troops were forwarded 
to Washington by way of AnnapoUs, until peace and order 
were restored in Baltimore, when the regular use of the high- 
way through that city was resumed, and has been continued 
without interruption to the present time. 

On the 19th of April the President issued the following 
proclamation, blockading the ports of the seceded States : 

A PROCLAMATION, BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
STATES. 

Wliereas, an insurrection against the Government of the United States 
has broken out in tlie States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Flor- 
ida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and the laws of the United States 
for the collection of the revenue cannot be efficiently executed therein 
conformable to that provision of the Constitution which required duties 
to be uniform throughout the United States : 

And wJiereits a combination of persons, engas:ed in such insurrection, 
have threatened to grant pretended letters of marque, to authorize the 
bearers thereof to commit assaults on the lives, vessels, and property of 
the good citizens of the country, lawfully engaged in commerce on the 
high seas, and in waters of the United States : 

Aud vhereas an Executive Proclamation has been already issued, re- 
quiring the persons engaged in these disorderly proceedings to desist 
therefrom, calling out a militia force for the puqiose of repressing the 
same, and convening Congress in extraordinary session to deliberate and 
determine thereon : 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
with a view to the same purposes before mentioned, aud to the protection 
of the public peace, and the lives and property of quiet and orderly 



THE BLOCKADE OF KEBEL POETS. 129 

citizens pursuing their lawful occupatious, until Congress shall have 
assembled and deliberated on the said unlawful proceedings, or until the 
same shall have ceased, have further deemed it advisable to set on foot a 
blockade of the ports within the States aforesaid, in pursuance of the 
laws of the United States and of the laws of nations in such cases pro- 
vided. For this purpose, a competent force will be posted so as to pre- 
vent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. If, therefore, 
with a view to violate such blockade, a vessel shall approach, or shall 
attempt to leave any of the said ports, she will be duly warned by the 
commander of one of the blockading vessels, who wiU endorse on her 
register the fact and date of such warning ; and if the same vessel shall 
again attempt to enter or leave the blockaded port, she will be captured 
and sent to the neai-est convenient port, for such i^roceedings against her 
and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable. 

And I hereby proclaim and declare, that if any person, under the pre- 
tended authority of such States, or under any other pretence, shall molest 
a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, 
such persons will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for 
the prevention and punishment of piracy. 

By the President, Abraham Likcoln. 

William H. Seward, Sea-etary of State. 

Washington, April 19, 1861. 

These were the initial steps by which the Government 
sought to repel the attempt of the rebel Confederacy to over- 
throw its authority by force of arms. Its action was at that 
time wholly defensive. The declarations of I'ebel officials, as 
well as the language of the Southern press, indicated very 
clearly their intention to push the war begun at Sumter into 
the North. Jefferson Davis had himself declared, more than 
a month previous, that whenever the war should open, the 
North and not the South should be the field of battle. At a 
popular demonstration held at Montgomery, Ala., on hearing 
that fire had been opened upon Sumter, L. P. Walker, the rebel 
Secretary of War, had said, that while "no man could tell 
where the war would end, he would prophesy that the flag 
which now flaunts the breeze here, would float over the dome 
of the old capitol at Washington before the first of May," 
and that it " might float eventually over Faneuil Hall itself." 



130 PRKSiDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

The rebel Government Lad gone forward with great vigor to 
prepare the means for making good these predictions. Vol- 
unteers was summoned to the field. Besides garrisoning the 
fortresses in their possession along the Southern coast, a force 
of nearly 20,000 men was pushed rapidly forward to Virginia. 
A loan of eight millions of dollars was raised, and Davis 
issued a proclamation offering letters of marque to all persons 
who might desire to aid the rebel Government and enrich 
themselves by depredations upon the rich and extended com- 
merce of the United States. The South thus plunged openly 
and boldly into a war of aggression ; and the President, in 
strict conformity with the declaration of his Inaugural, put 
the Government upon the defensive, and limited the military 
operations of the moment to the protection of the capital. 

The effect of these preliminary movements upon the Border 
Slave States was very decided. The assault upon Sumter 
greatly excited the public mind throughout those States. In 
Virtrinia it was made to enure to the benefit of the rebels. 
The State Convention, which had been in session since the 
13lh of February, was composed of 152 delegates, a large 
majority of whom were Union men. The Inaugural of Presi- 
dent Lincoln had created a good deal of excitement among 
the members, and a very animated contest liad followed as to 
its proper meaning. The secessionists insisted that it an- 
nounced a policy of coercion towards the South, and had 
seized the occasion to urge the immediate passage of an ordi 
nance of secession. This gave rise to a stormy debate, in 
which the friends of the Union maintained their ascendency. 
The news of the attack upon Sumter created a whirlvvind of 
excitement, which checked somewhat the Union movement ; 
and, on the 13th of April, Messrs. Preston, Stuart, and Ran- 
dolph, who had been sent to Washington to ascertain the 
President's intentions towards the South, sent in their report, 
which was received just after Governor Pickens of South 



THE PRESIDENT AXD THE VIRGINIA COMMISSIONERS. 131 

Carullna had announced the attack upon Sumter, and had 
demanded to know what Virginia intended to do in the war 
they had just commenced, and in which they were determined 
to triumph or perish. The Commissioners reported tliat the 
President had made the following reply to their inquiries : 

To Hon. Messrs. Preston, Stuart, and Raiidolph : 

Gejjtlemen: As a committee of the Virginia Convention, now in 
session, you present me a preamble and resolution in tliese words : 

Whereas, In the opinion of this Convention, tlie uncertainty wliich 
prevails in the public mind as to the policy which the Federal Executive 
intends to pursue towards the seceded States, is extreniely injurious to 
tlie industrial and commercial interests of the country, tends to keep im an 
excitement which is unfavorable to the adjustment of the peudiui; difH- 
cultics, and threatens a disturbance of the public peace ; therefore", 

Bes.olved, That a committee of three delegates be appointed to wait on 
the President of the United States, present to him this preamble, and 
respectfully ask him to communicate to this Convention the policy which 
the Federal Executive intends to pursue in regard to the Confederate 
States. 

In answer I have to say, that having, at the beginning of my ofBeial 
terra, expressed my intended policy as plainly as I was able, it is with 
deep regret and mortification I now learn there is great and injurious 
uncertainty in tlie public mind as to what that policy is, and what course 
I intend to pursue. Not having as yet seen occasion to change, it is now 
my purpose to pursue the course marked out in the Inaugural Address. 
I commend a careful consideration of the whole document as the best 
expression I can give to my purposes. As I then and therein said, I 
now repeat, " The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, 
and possess property and places belonging to the Government, and to 
collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what is necessary for these 
objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the 
people anywhere." By the words "property and places belonging to 
the Government," I chiefly allude to the military posts and property 
which were in possession of the Government when it came into my hands. 
But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to drive the 
United States authority from these places, an unprovoked assault has 
been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at liberty to repossess 
it, if I can, like places which had been seized before the Government was 
devolved upon me ; and in any event I shall, to the best of my ability, 
repel force by force. In case it proves true that Fort Sumter has been 
assaulted, as is reported, I shall, perhaps, cause the United States mails 
to be withdrawn from all the States which claim to have seceded, believ- 
ing that the commencement of actual war against the Government justi- 
fies and possibly demantls it. I scarcely need to say that I consider the 



132 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMIXISTEATION. 

military posts and property situated -svithin (be States -n-hicli claim to 
have seceded, as yet belonging to the Government of the United States 
as much as they did before the supposed secession. Whatever else I 
may do for the purpose, I shall not attempt to collect the duties and 
imposts by any armed invasion of any part of the country ; not meaning 
by this, however, that I may not land a force deemed necessary to re- 
lieve a fort upon the border of the country. From the foet that I have 
quoted a part of the Inaugural Address, it must not be inferred that I 
repudiate any other part, the whole of which I reaffirm, except so far as 
what I now say of the mails may be regai'ded as a modification. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

On the I7tb, two days after this report was presented, and 
immediately after receiving the President's proclamation call- 
ing for troops, the Convention passed an ordinance of seces- 
sion by a vote of 88 to 55 ; and Virginia, being thus the most 
advanced member of the rebel Confederacy, became the battle- 
field of all the earlier contests which ensued, and on the 21st 
of May the capital of the rebel government was transferred to 
Richmond. Very strenuous efforts were made by the rebel 
authorities to secure the adhesion of Maryland, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, and Missouri to the Confederacy ; but the wise 
forbearance of the President in his earlier measures had checked 
these endeavors, and held all those States but Tennessee aloof 
from active participation in the secession movement. 

The months of May and June were devoted to the most 
active and vigorous preparations on both sides for the contest 
which was seen to be inevitable. Ovej a hundred thousand 
troops had been raised and organized in the rebel States, and 
the great mass of them had been pushed forward toward the 
Northern border. On the 20th of April the Government of 
the United States seized all the despatches which had accu- 
mulated in the telegraph offices during the preceding year, 
for the purpose of detecting movements in aid of the rebel 
conspiracy. On the 27th of April the blockade of rebel 
ports was extended by proclamation to the ports of North 
Carolina and Virginia. Ou the 3d of May the l*resident is- 



INSTRUCTIONS TO OUR MINISTERS ABROAD. 133 

sued a proclamation calling into the service of the United 
States 42,034 volunteers for three years, and ordering an ad- 
dition of 22,114 officers and men to the regular array, and 
18,000 seamen to the navy. And on the 16th, by another 
proclamation, he directed the commander of the United States 
forces in Florida to " permit no person to exercise any office 
or authority upon the islands of Key West, the Tortugas, 
and Santa Rosa, which may be inconsistent with the laws and 
Constitution of the United States, authorizing him, at the 
same time, if he shall find it necessary, to suspend the writ of 
habeas corpus, and to remove from the vicinity of the United 
States fortresses all dangerous or suspected persons." 

One of the first duties of the new Administration was to 
define the position to be taken by the Government of the 
United States towards foreign nations in view of the rebellion. 
While it is impossible to enter here upon this very wide 
branch of the general subject at any considerable length, this 
history would be incomplete if it did not state, in official 
language, the attitude which the President decided to assume. 
That is very distinctly set forth in the letter of instructions 
prepared by the Secretary of State for Mr. Adams, on the 
eve of his departure for the court of St. James, and dated 
April 10, in the following terms : 

Before considering the arguments you are to use, it is important to 
indicate those which you are not to employ in executing that mission : 

Firxi. The President has noticed, as the whole Amei'ican people have, 
. with much emotion, the expressions of good-will and friendship towards 
the United States, and of concern for their present embarrassments, 
which have been made on apt occasions, by her Majesty and her minis- 
ters. You will make due acknowledgment for these manifestations, but 
at the same time you will not rely on any mere sympathies or national 
kindness. Tou will make no admissions of weakness in our Constitu- 
tion, or of apprehension on the part of the Goveniment. You will 
rather prove, as you easily can, by comparing the history of our country 
with that of other States, that its Constitutiou and Government are 
really the strongest and surest which have ever been erected for the safety 
of any people. You will in no case listen to any suggestions of com- 



134 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

promise by this Government, under foreign auspices, yrith its discon- 
tented citizens. If, as the President does not at all apprehend, yon 
sliall unhappily find her Majesty's Government tolerating the application 
of the so-called seceding States, or wavering about it, you will not leave 
Iheni to suppose for a moment that they can grant that application and 
remain the friends of the United States. You may even assure them 
promptly, in that case, that if they determine to recognize, they may at 
the same time prepare to enter into alliance with the enemies of this 
republic. Ton alone will represent your country at London, and you 
will represent the whole of it there. When you are asked to divide that 
duty with others, diplomatic relations between the Government of Great 
Britain and this Government will be suspended, and will remain so until 
it shall be seen which of the two is most strongly intrenched in the con- 
fidence of their respective nations and of manliind. 

You wiU not be allowed, however, even if you were disposed, as the Pres- 
ident is sure you will not be, to rest your opposition to the application 
of the Confederate States on the ground of any favor this Administra- 
tion, or the party which chiefly called it into existence, proposes to show 
to Great Britain, or claims that Great Britain ought to show them. You 
will not consent to draw into debate before the British Government any 
opposing moral principles which may be supposed to lie at the founda- 
tion of the controversy between those States and the Federal Union. 

You will indulge in no expressions of harshness or disrespect, or even 
impatience, eonceniing the seceding States, their agents, or their people. 
But you will, on the contrary, all the while remember that those States 
are now, as they always heretofore have been, and, notwithstanding their 
temporary self-delusion, they must always continue to be, equal and 
honored members of this Fedend Union, and that their citizens through- 
out all political misunderstandings and alienations still arc and always 
must be our kindred and countrymen. In short, all your arguments must 
belong to one of three classes, namely : Fin^t. Arguments drawn from 
the principles of public law and natural justice, which regulate the inter- 
course of equal States. SecoiuUij. Arguments which coQcern equally the 
honor, welfare, and liapj)iness of the discontented States, and the honor, 
welfare, and happiness of the whole Union. ThirdUj. Arguments Avhich 
are equally conservative of the rights and interests, and even sentiments 
of the United States, and just in their bearing upon the rights, interests, 
and sentiments of Great Britiiin and ail otiier nations. 

Just previous to the arrival of Mr. Adams at his post, the 
British Government determined, acting- in concert with that 
of France, to recognize the rebels as a belligerent power. 
Against this recognition our Government directed Mr. Adams 



BECOGNITIOX OF THE REBELS AS BELLIGERENTS. 135 

to make a decided and energetic protest. On the 15th of 
June the British and French ministers at Wasliington re- 
quested an interview with the Secretary of State for the pur- 
pose of reading to him certain insiructions they iiad received 
on this subject from their respective govei'iiinents. Mi-. 
Seward declined to hear them otKcially until he kiievv the 
nature of the document, which was accordingly left with liini 
for perusal, and he afterwards declined altogether to hear it 
read, or receive official notice of it. In a letter to Mr. Adams, 
on the 19th, he thus states its character and contents: 

That paper purpoi'ts to contain a decision at which the British Govern- 
ment has arrived, to the efi'ect that this country is divided into two 
belligerent parties, of which this Government represents one, and that 
Great Britain assumes the attitude of a neutral between them. 

This Government could not, consistently with a just regard for the sov- 
ereignty of the United States, permit itself to debate these novel and 
extraordinary positions with the Government of her Britannic Majesty; 
much less can we consent that that Government shall announce to us a 
decision derogating from that sovereignty, at which it has arrived with- 
out previously conferring with us upon the question. The United States 
are still solely and exclusively sovereign within the territories they have 
lawfully acquired and long possessed, as they have always been. They 
are at peace with all the world, as, with unimportant exceptions, they have 
always been. They are living under the obligations of the law of nations, 
and of treaties with Great Britain, just the same now as heretofore ; they 
are, of course, the friend of Great Britain, and they insist that Great Britain 
shall remain their friend now, just as she has hitlierto been. Great Britain, 
by virtue of these relations, is a stranger to parties and sections in this coun- 
try, whether they are loyal to the United States or not, and Great Britain 
can neither rightfully qualify the sovereignty of the United States, nor 
concede, nor recognize any rights or interests or power of any party. State, 
or section, in contravention to the unbroken sovereignty of the Federal 
Union. What is now seen in this country is the occurrence, by no means 
peculiar, but frequent in all countries, more frequent even in Great 
Britain than here, of an armed insurrection engaged in attempting to 
overthrow the regularly constituted and established Government. There 
is, of course, the employment of force by the Government to suppress 
the insurrection, as every other government necessarily employs force in 
such cases. But these incidents by no means constitute a state of war 
impairing the sovereignty of the Government, creating belligerent sec- 
tions, and entitling foreign States to intervene, or to act as neutrals 



13G PRESIDENT UNCOIJj's ADMUTISTEATION. 

between them, or in any other way to cast off their lawful obligations to 
the nation thus for the moment disturbed. Any other principle than 
this would be to resolve government everywhere into a thing of accident 
and caprice, and ultimately all human society into a state of perpetual 
war. 

We do not go into any argument of fact or of law in support of the 
positions we have thus assumed. They are simply the suggestions of the 
instinct of self-defence, the primary law of human action — not more the 
law of individual than of national life. 

Similar views were presented for the consideration of the 
French Emperor, and, indeed, of all the foreign govern- 
ments with which we held diplomatic intercourse. The action 
of the seceding States was treated as rebellion, purely domes- 
tic in its character, upon the nature or merits of which it 
would be unbecoming in us to hold any discussion with any 
foreign power. The President pressed upon all those gov- 
ernments the duty of accepting this \iew of the question, 
and of abstaining, consequently, from every act which could 
be construed into any recognition of tlie rebel Confederacy, 
or which could embarrass the Government of the United 
States in its endeavors to re-establish its rightful authority. 
Especial pains were taken, by the most emphatic declarations, 
to leave no doubt in the mind of any foreign statesman as to 
the purpose of the people of the United States to accomplish 
that result. "You cannot be too decided or explicit," was the 
uniform language of the Secretary, " in making known to the 
government that tliere is not now, nor has tliere been, nor 
will there be, any the least idea existing in this Government of 
suffering a dissolution of this Union to take place in any way 
whatever." Efforts were also made by our Government to 
define, with the precision which the novel features of the case 
required, the law of nations in regard to neutral rights, ami 
also to secure a general concurrence of the maritime powers 
in the principles of the Paris Convention of 1859 : the latter 
object was, however, thwarted by the demand made by both 



RIGHTS OF NETTTRALS. 137 

France and England, that they sliould not be required to abide 
by these principles in their application to the internal conflict 
which was going on in the United States. This demand the 
President pronounced inadmissible. 



138 PRESIDENT T.IXCOLN's ADMIXISTKATION. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS, AND THE MILITARY EVENTS 
OF THE SUMMER OF 1861. 

In pursuance of the President's proclamation of the 15th 
of April, Congress met in extra session on the 4th of July, 
1861. The Republicans had control of both houses, counting 
31 votes out of 48 in the Senate, and 106 out of 178 in the 
House, there being, moreover, 5 in the Senate and 28 in the 
House who, without belonging to the Republican party, sup- 
ported the Administration in its efforts to preserve the Union. 
Hon. G. A. Grow was elected Speaker of the House; and, 
on the 5th, the President communicated to Congress liis first 
annual message as follows : 

Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and 

House of Jtepresentatives : 

Having been convened on an extraordinary occasion, as autliorized by 
the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordinary Bubject of 
legislation. 

At the beginning of the present presidential term, four months ago, 
the functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally sus 
ponded within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only those of the Post- 
Office Department. 

Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dock -yards, custom-liouses 
and the lilce, including the movable and stationary property in and about 
them, had been seized, and were held in open hostility to this Govern- 
ment, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jeflerson, on and near 
the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. South Carolina. 
The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new ones had 
been built, and armed forces had been organized and were organizing, all 
avowedly with the same hostile purpose. 



FIRST AlfKUAL MESSAGE. 139 

The forts remainiug in the possession of tlie Federal Government iu 
and nca'r these States were either besieged or menaced by Avarlike prepa- 
rations, and especially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by well- 
protected hostile batteries, with guns equal in quality to the best of its 
own, and outnumbering the latter as perhaps ten to one. A dispropor- 
tionate share of the Federal muskets and rifles had somehow found their 
way into these States, and had been seized to be used against the Govern- 
ment. Accumulations of the public revenue, lying within them, had 
been seized for the same object. The Navy was scattered in distant seas, 
leaving but a very small part of it within the immediate reach of the 
Government. Officers of the Federal Army and Navy had resigned in 
great numbers ; and of those resigning, a large proportion had taken up 
arms against the Government. Simultaneously, and in connection with 
all this, the pui-pose to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed. In 
accordance with this purpose, an ordinance had been adopted in each of 
these States, declaring the States, respectively, to be separated from the 
National Union. A formula for instituting a combined government of 
these States had been promulgated ; and this illegal organization, in the 
character of Confederate States, was already invoking recognition, aid, 
and interveutiou from foreign Powers. 

Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an imperative 
duty upon the incoming Executive to prevent, if possible, the consum- 
mation of such attempt to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of means 
to that end became indispensable. This choice was made, and was de- 
clared in the Inaugural Address. The policy chosen looked to the exhaus- 
tion of all peaceful measures before a resort to anj' stronger ones. It 
sought only to hold the public places and property not already wrested 
from the Government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest on 
time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of the 
mails, at Government expense, to the very people who were resisting the 
Government ; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to 
any of the people, or any of their rights. Of aU that which a President 
might constitutionally and justifiabU' do in such a case, every thing vras 
forborne, without which it was believed possible to keep the Government 
on foot. 

On the 5th of March (the present incumbent's first full day iu office, 
a letter of Major Anderson, commanding at Fort Sumter, written on the 
2Sth of February, and received at the War Department on the 4th of 
March, was by that Department placed iu his hands. This letter ex- 
pressed the professional opinion of the writer, that re-enforcements could 
not be thrown into that fort within the time for his relief, rendered ne- 
cessary by the limited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding 
possession of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good 
and well-disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the 



140 PEESiDEisn i,incoln's administration. 

ofDcers of his command, and their memoranda on the subject were made 
enclosures of Mnjor Anderson's letter. The whole was immediately laid 
before Lieiitenant-General Scott, who at once concurred with Major 
Andt^rson in opinion. On reflection, however, he took full time, con- 
sulting with other officers, both of the army and the navy ; and at the 
cud of four days came reluctantly, but decidedly, to the same conclusion 
as before. He also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force 
was then at the control of the Government, or could be raised and 
brought to the ground within the time when the provisions in the fort 
would be exhausted. In a purely military point of view, this reduced 
the duty of the Administration in the case to the mere matter of getting 
the garrison safely out of the fort. 

It was believed, however, that to so abandon that position, under the 
circumstances, would be utterly ruinous ; that the necessity under which 
it was to be done would not be fully understood ; that by many it would 
be construed as a part of a voluntary policy ; that at home it would dis- 
courage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to 
insure to the latter a recognition abroad ; that, in fact, it would be our 
national destruction consummated. This could not be allowed. Star- 
vation was not yet upon the garrison ; and ere it would be reached Fort 
Pickens might be re-enforced. This would be a clear indication of policy, 
and would better enable the country to accept the evacuation of Fort 
Sumter as a military necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent 
for the landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort 
Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must take the longer and 
filower route by sea. The first return news from the order was received 
just one week before the fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself was that 
the officer commanding the Sabine, to which vessel the troops had been 
transferred from the Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the 
late Administration (and of the existence of which the present Adminis- 
tration, up to the time the order was despatched, had only too vague and 
uncertain rumors to fix attention), had refused to land the troops. To 
now re-enforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be reached at Fort 
Sumter was impossible— rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions 
in the latter-named fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture, the 
Government had a few days before commenced preparing an expedition, 
as well adapted as might be, to relieve Fort Sumter, which exijcdition 
was intended to be ultimately used or not, according to circumstances. 
The strongest anticipated case for using it was now presented, and it was 
resolved to send it forward. As had been intended in this contingency, 
it was also resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina that he 
mi-lit expect an attempt Avould be made to provision the fort ; and that, 
if the attempt should not be resisted, there would be no elibrt to throw- 
in men, arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an 
( 



riRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 141 

attack upon the fort. This notice was accordingly given ; Avhcrenpon 
the fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting 
the arrival of the provisioning expedition. 

It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was 
in no sense a matter of self-defence upon the part of the assailants. They 
well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit 
aggression upon them. They knew— they were expressly notitied — that 
the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison 
was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, 
by resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Gov- 
ernment desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but 
to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from 
actual and immediate dissolution — trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to 
time, discussion, and the ballot-box for final adjustment ; and they as- 
sailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object — to drive out 
the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate 
dissolution. That this was their object the Executive well understood ; 
and having said to them in the Inaugural Address, " You can have no 
conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," he took pains not 
only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from 
the power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not be able to 
misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding 
circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants 
of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight, 
or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort, sent 
to that harbor years before for their own protection, and still ready to 
give that protection in whatever was lawi'ul. In this act, discarding all 
else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, "immediate 
dissolution or blood." 

And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It 
presents to the whole family of man the question, whether a constitu- 
tional republic or democracy — a government of the peoi^le by the same 
people — can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own 
domestic foes. It presents the question, whether discontented individuals, 
too few in numbers to control administration, according to organic law, 
in any case, can always, iipon the pretences made in this case, or on any 
other pretences, or arbitrarily, without any pretence, break up their 
Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon 
the earth. It forces us to ask, " Is there, in all republics, this inherent 
aud fatal weakness?" " Must a go\emment, of necessity, be too strong 
for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own exist- 
ence?" 

So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power 



142 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

of the Government ; and so to resist force employed for its deBtruction, 
by force for its preservation. 

The call was made, and the response of the country was most gratify- 
ing, surpassing iu unanimity and spirit the most sanguine espectatior.. 
Yet none of the Slates commonly called Slave States, except Delaware, 
gave a regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments 
have been organized within some others of those States by individual 
enterprise, and received into the Government service. Of course, the 
seceded States, so called (and to which Texas had been joined about the 
time of the inauguration), gave no troops to the cause of the Union. 
The Border States, so called, were not uniform in their action, some of them 
being almost for the Union, while in others — as Virginia, North Carolina, 
Tennessee, and Arkansas — the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and 
silenced. The course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable — per- 
haps the most important. A convention, elected by the people of that 
State to consider this very qncstion of disrupting the Federal Union, 
was in session at the capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. To this 
body the people had chosen a large majority of professed Union men. 
Almost immediately after the fall of Sumter many members of that 
majority went over to the origiual disunion minority, and with them 
adopted an ordinance for withdrawing the State from the Union. Whether 
this change was wrought by their great approval of the assault upon 
Sumter, or their great resentment at the Government's resistance to that 
assault, is not definitely known. Although they submitted the ordinance 
for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then some- 
what more than a month distant, the Convention and the Legislature 
(which was also in session at the same time and place), with leading 
men of the State not members of either, immediately commenced acting 
as if the State were already out of the Union. They pushed military 
preparations vigorously forward all over the State. They seized the 
United States armory at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard at Gosport, 
near Norfolk. They received — perhaps invited— into their State large 
bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, from the so-called 
seceded States. They formally entered into a treaty of tcmporarj' alli- 
ance and co-operation with the so-called "Confederate States," and sent 
members to tlieir Congress at Montgomery ; and, finally, they permitted 
the insurrectionary Government to be transferred to their capital at Rich- 
mond. 

The people of VLi-ginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to 
make its nest within her borders ; and this Government has no choice 
left but to deal with it where it finds it. And it has tlie less regret, as 
the loyal citizens have in due form claimed its protection. Those loyal 
citizens this Government is bound to recognize and protect as being 
Virginia. 



"FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. 143 

In the Border States, so-called— in fact, the Middle States— there arc 
those who favor a policy which they call "armed neutrality" — that is, 
an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces passing one way, 
or the disunion tlie other, over their soil. This would be disunion com- 
pleted. Figuratively speaking, it would be the building of an impassable 
wall along the line of separation — and yet not quite an impassable one, 
for, under the guise of neutrality, it would tie the hands of Union men, 
and freely pass supplies from among them to the insurrectionists, which 
it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would take all the 
trouble off the hijnds of secession, except only what proceeds from the 
external blockade. It would do for the disunionists that which of all 
things they most desire — feed them well, and give themdisunion without 
a struggle of their own. It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no 
obligation to maintain the Union; and while veiy many who have fa- 
vored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in 
effect. 

Recurring to the action of the Goveramcnt, it may be stated that at 
first a call was made for seventy five thousand militia; and rapidly fol- 
lowing this, a proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insur- 
rectionary districts by proceedings in the nature of a blockade. So far 
all was believed to be strictly legal. At this point the insurrectionists 
announced their purpose to enter upon the practice of privateering. 

Other calls were made for volunteers to serve for three years, unless 
sooner discharged, and also for large additions to the regular army and 
navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon 
under what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity ; 
trusting then, as now, that Congress would readily ratify them. It is 
believed that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional compe- 
tencj' of Congress. 

Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize 
the Commanding-General, in i)ropcr cases, according to his discretion, 
to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in other words, 
to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary processes and forms 
of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public siifety. 
This authority has purposely been exercised but very sparingly. Never- 
theless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it are 
questioned, and the attention of the country has been called to the 
proposition, that one who has sworn to "take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed," should not himself violate them. Of course, some 
consideration was given to the question of power and propriety before 
this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were required 
to be faithfully executed were being resisted, and failing of execution in 
nearly one-third of the States. Must they be allowed to finally fail of ex- 
ecution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of the means 
necessary to their execution some single law, made in such extreme 



144 PRESIDENT Lincoln's ACMiNasxRATioN. 

tendernees of the citizen's liberty that practically it relieves more of the 
guilty than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent be violated ? 
To state the question more directly : Are all the laws but one to go unex- 
ecuted, and the Government itself go to pieces, lest that one be violated? 
Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken if the Gov- 
ernment should be overthrown, when it was believed that disregarding 
the single law would tend to preserve it ? But it was not believed that 
this question was presented. It was not believed that any law was 
violated. The provision of the Constitution that " the privilege of the 
writ of habeas coi-pus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of 
rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it," is equivalent to 
a provision — is a provision — that such privilege may be suspended when, 
in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was 
decided that we have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety does 
require the qualified suspension of the privilege of the writ which was 
authorized to be made. Now, it is insisted that Congress, and not the 
Executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent 
as to which or who is to exercise the power ; and as the provision was 
plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be believed the 
framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should 
run its course until Congress could be called together, the verj' assembling 
of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the re- 
bellion. 

No more extended argument is now oflfered, as an opinion, at some 
length, will probably be presented by the Attorney-General. Whether 
there shall be any legislation on the subject, and, if any, what, is sub- 
mitted entirely to the better judgment of Congress. 

The forbearance of this Government had been so extraordinary, and so 
long continued, as to lead some foreign nations to shape their action 
as if they supposed the early destruction of our national Union was 
probable. While this, on discovery, gave the Executive some concern, 
he is now happy to say that the sovereignty and rights of the United 
States are now everywhere practically respected by foreign powers ; and 
a general sympathy with the country is manifested throughout the 
world. 

The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Navy, 
will give the information in detail deemed necessary and convenient for 
your deliberation and action ; while the Executive and all the Depart- 
ments will stand ready to supply omissions, or to communicate new facts 
considered important for you to know. 

It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this 
contest a short and decisive one ; that you place at the control of the 
Government, for the work, as least four hundred thousand men and 
$400,000,000. That number of men is about one-tenth of those of proper 
ages within the regions where, apparently, all are willing to engage ; and 



THR peeside:>t's message. 145 

the sum is less than a tweuty-third part of the money value o'.vned by 
the men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of §000,000,000 
now, is a less sum per head than was the debt of our Revolution when 
we came out of that struggle ; and the money value in the country no v 
bears even a greater proportion to what it was then, than does the popu- 
lation. Surely each man has as strong a motive now to preserve our 
liberties, as each had then to establish them. 

A right result, at this time, will be worth more to the world than ten 
times the men and ten times the money. The evidence reaching us from 
the country leaves no doubt that the material for the work is abundant, 
and that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it legal sanction, 
and the hand of the Executive to give it practical shape and efficiency. 
One of the greatest perplexities of the Government is to avoid receiving 
troops faster than it can provide for them. In a word, the peoi)le will 
save their Government, if the Government itself will do its part only 
indiflerently well. 

It might seem, at first thought, to be of little difference whether the 
present movement at the South be called "secession," or "rebellion." 
The movers, however, will understand the difference. At the beginning, 
they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable 
magnitude by any name which implies violation of law. They ivuew 
their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to 
law and order, and as much pride in, and reverence for the history and 
Government-of their common country, as any other civilized and patriotic 
people. They knew they could make no advancement directly in the 
teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they com- 
menced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. They invented 
an ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly 
logical steps, throiigh all the incidents, to the complete destruction of 
the Union. The sophism itself is, that any State of the Union may, 
consistently with the national Constitution, and therefore lawfully and 
peacefully, withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union, 
or of any other State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to 
be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judges of its 
justice, is too thin too merit any notice. 

With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have been drugging the public 
mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they 
have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against 
the Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted the 
farcical pretence of taking their State out of the Union, who could have 
been brought to no such thing the day before. 

This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from 
the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy 
pertaining to a State — to each State of our Federal Union. Our States 
have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the 



146 PEESIDENT LIKCOLN's ADMINISTEATION. 

Union by the Constitution — no one of them ever having been a State out 
of the Union. The original ones passed into the Union even before they 
cast off their British colonial dependence ; and the new ones each came 
into the Union directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas. 
And even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never designated a 
State. The new ones only took the designation of States on coming inlo 
the Union, while that name was first adopted by the old ones in and by 
the Declaration of Independence. Therein the " United Colonies" were 
declared to be "free and independent States;" but, even then, the ob- 
ject plainly was not to declare their independence of one another, or of 
the Union, but directly the contrary ; as their mutual pledge and their 
mutual action before, at the time, and afterwards, abundantly show. The 
express plighting of faith by each and all of the original thirteen in the 
Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be per- 
petual, is most conclusive. Having never been States, either in substance 
or in name, outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of 
" State rights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union 
itself? Much is said aljout the " sovereignty" of the States; but the 
word even is not in the national Constitution ; nor, as is believed, in any 
of the State constitutions. What is " sovereignly " in the political sense 
of the term ? Would it be far wrong to define it " a political community 
Avithout a political superior?" Tested by this, no one of our States, ex- 
cept Texas, ever was a sovereignty. And even Texas gave up the char- 
acter on coming into the Union ; by which act she acknowledged the 
Constitution of the United Stales and the laws and treaties of the United 
States made in pursuance of the Constitution, to be for her the supreme 
law of the laud. The States have their staiufi in the Union, and they have 
no other legal statics. If they break from this, they can only do so 
against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves seim- 
rately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or 
i:)urchase the Union gave each of them whatever of independence or 
liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in foet, it 
created them as States. Originally some dependent colonies made the 
Union, and, in turn, the Union threw off their old dependence for them, 
and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a 
State constitution independent of the Union. Of course, it is not for- 
gotten that all the new States framed their constitutions before they en- 
tered the Union ; nevertheless dependent upon, and preparatory to, com- 
ing into the Union. 

Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights reserved to them 
in and by the national Constitution; but among these, surclj', are not in- 
cluded all conceivable powers, however mischievous or destructive ; but, 
at most, such only as were known in the world, at the time, as govern- 
mental powers ; and, certainly, a power to destroy the Government it- 
self hud never been known as a governmental— as a merely administra- 



THE PKESIDENTS MESSAGE. 147 

tive power. This relative matter of national power and State riglits, as 
a principle, is no other than the principle of generality and locality. 
Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the whole — to the 
General Government ; while whatever concerns only the State should be 
left exclusively to the State. This is all tliere is of original principle 
about it. Whether the national Constitution in delining boundaries be- 
tween the two has applied the principle with exact accuracy, is not to be 
questioned. We are all bound by that defining, without question. 

What is now combated, is the position that secession is consistent 
with the Constitution— is lawful and peaceful. It is not contended that 
there is any express law for it ; and nothing should ever be implied as 
law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The nation pur- 
chased with money the countries out of which several of these Ststtes 
were formed ; is it just that they shall go off witliout leave and with- 
out refunding ? The nation paid very large sums (in the aggregate, 
I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal 
tribes ; is it just that she shall now be off without consent, or without 
making any return ? The nation is now in debt for money applied 
to the benefit of these so-called seceding States in common with the 
rest; is it just either that creditors shall go unpaid, or the remaining 
States pay the whole ? A part of the present national debt was con tracted 
to pay the old debts of Texas ; is it just that she shall leave and pay no 
part of this herself? 

Again, if one State may secede, so may another ; and when all shall 
have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to 
creditors ? Did we notify them of this sage view of ours when we bor- 
rowed their money ? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the 
seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what wc can do if others 
choose to go, or to extort terms upon which thej- will promise to re- 
main. 

The seceders insist that our constitution admits of secession. They 
have assumed to make a national constitution of their own, in which, of 
necessity, they have cither discarded or retained the right of secession, 
as they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby 
admit that, on principle, it ought not to be in ours. If they have retained 
it, by their own construction of ours, they show that to be consistent 
they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it the 
easiest way of settling their debts, or eftecting any other selfish or unjust 
object. The principle itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no 
Government can possibly endure. 

If all the States save one should assert the power to drive that one out 
of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seccder politicians would 
at once deny the power, and denounce the act as the greatest outrage 
upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the same act, instead of 
being called "driving the one out," blioukl be called "the seceding of 



148 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's ADiitxisTKAxiox. 

Ihc othere from that one," it would be exactly what the secedcrs claim to 
do ; unless, indeed, they make the point that the one, because it is u mi- 
nority, may rightfully do what the others, because they are a majority, 
may not rightfully do. These politician i are subtile and profound on the 
rights of minorities. They are not partial to that power which made the 
Constitution, and speaks fi-om the preamble, calling itself " We, the 
People." 

It may well be questioned whether there is to-day a majority of the 
legally qualified voters of any State, except, perhaps. South Carolina, iu 
favor of disunion. There is much reason to believe that the Union men 
are the majority in many, if not in every other one, of the so-called 
seceded States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of 
them. It is ventured to affirm this even of Virginia and Tennessee ; for 
the result of an election held in military camps, where the bayonets are 
all on one side of the question voted upon, can scarcely be considered as 
demonstrating popular sentiment. At such an election, all that large 
class who are at once for the Union and agaiust coercion would be co- 
erced to vote against the Union. 

It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free institutions we 
enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our 
whole people beyond any example in the world. Of this mc now have a 
striking and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the Govern- 
ment has now on foot was never before known without a soldier in it but 
who had taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than 
this ; there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, 
possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, professions, and 
whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the world ; and 
there is scarcely one from which there could not be selected a President, 
a Cabinet, a Congress and perhaps a court, abundantly competent to ad- 
minister the Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in the 
army of our late friends, now adversaries iu this contest ; but if it is, so 
much better the reason why the Government wliich has conferred such 
benefits on both them and us should not be broken up. Whoever, in anj' 
section, proposes to abandon such a Government, would do well to con- 
sider in defercuce to what principle it is that he docs it ; what better he 
is likely to get in its stead; whether the substitute will give, or be in- 
tended to give, so much of good to the people ? There are' some fore- 
shadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some decla- 
rations of independence, in which, unlike the good old one, penned by 
Jelferson, they omit the words, "all men are created equal." Wliy ? 
They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of 
which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit " ^^'^i, 
the People," and substitute, " We, the deputies of the sovereign and in- 
dependent States." Why? Why tliis deliberate pressing out of %iew 
the rights of men and the authority of the people ? 



THE president's MESSAGE. 149 

This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it is a 
struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of govern- 
nieut whose leading ohject is to elevate the condition of men ; to lift 
artificial weights from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable pur- 
suits for all ; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race 
of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this 
is the leading object of the Government for whose existence we contend. 

I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and ap- 
preciate this. It is worthy of note, that while in this the Governrnent's 
hour of trial, large numbers of those in the army and navy who have been 
favored with the offices have resigned and proved false to the hand which 
had pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known 
to have deserted his flag. 

Great honor is due to those officers who remained true, despite the ex- 
ample of their treacherous associates ; but the greatest honor, and most 
important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers 
and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have suc- 
cessfully resisted the traitorous eflbrts of those whose commands but an 
hour before they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic inst. ict 
of plain people. They understand, withoiit an argument, that the de- 
stroying the Government which was made by Washington means no 
good to them. 

Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two 
points in it our people have already settled — the successful establishing 
and the successful administering of it. One still remains — its successful 
maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is 
now for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry 
an election can also suppress a rebellion; that ballots are the rightful and 
peaceful successors of bullets ; and that when ballots have fiiirly and con- 
stitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets ; 
that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at 
succeeding elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace ; teaching 
men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by 
a war ; teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. 

Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men as to what 
is to be the course of the Government towards the Southern States after 
the rebellion shall have been suppressed, the Executive deems it proper 
to say, it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by the Constitu- 
tion and the laws ; and that he probably will have no diilereut under- 
standing of the powei-s and duties of the Federal Government relatively 
to the rights of the States and the people under the Constitution thau 
that expressed in the inaugural address. 

He desires to preserve the Government, that it may be administered 
for all, as it was administered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens 
everywhere have the right to claim this of their Government, and the 



150 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

Goverument has no right to -nithhold or neglect it. It is not perceived 
that in giving it tliere is any coercion, any conquest, or any subjugation, 
in any just sense of those terms. 

The Constitution provides, and all the States have accepted the pro^is- 
ion, that " the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union 
a republican form of Government." But if a State may lawfully go out 
of the Union, having done so it may also discard the republican form of 
Government; so that to prevent its going out is an indispensable means 
to the end of maintaining the guarantee mentioned ; and wlien an end is 
lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means to it are also lawful and 
obligatory. 

. It was with the deepest regret that the Executive found the duty of 
employing the war power in defence of the Government forced upon him. 
He could but perform this duty or surrender the existence of the Govern- 
ment. No compromise by public servants could iu this case be a cure ; 
not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular Govern- 
ment can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an elec- 
tion can only save the Government from immediate destruction by giving 
up the main point upon which the people gave the election. The people 
themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate 
decisions. 

As a private citizen the Executive could not have consented that these 
institutions shall perish ; much less could he, iu betrayal of so vast and 
60 sacred a trust as these free people have confided to him. He felt that 
he had no moral right to shrink, or even to count the chances of his own 
life, in what might follow. In fuU view of his great responsibility he has 
60 far done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according to 
your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes tliat your views 
and your action may so accord with his as to assure all laithl'ul citizens 
who have been disturbed in their rights of a certain aud speedy restora- 
tion to them, under the Constitution and the laws. 

And having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure pur- 
pose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear aud 
with manly hearts. 

Abba HAM Linx'Oln. 

July 4, ISCl. 

Congress imitated tlie President in confiiiing its attention 
exclusively to the rebellion and the means for its stippression. 
The zealous and enthusiastic loyalty of the people met a prompt 
response from their representatives. The Judiciary Committee 
in the House was instructed on tlie 8th to prepare a bill to 
confiscate the property of rebels against the Government, and 



ACTION OF CONGRESS. 151 

on the 9th a resohition was adopted (ayes 93, noes 55), de- 
claring it to be " no part of the duty of the soldiers of the 
United States to capture and return fugitive slaves." A bill 
Avas promptly introduced to declare valid all the acts of the 
President for the suppression of the rebellion previous to the 
meeting of Congress, and it brought on a general discussion 
of the principles involved and the interests concerned in the 
contest. There were a few in both Houses, with John C. 
Breckinridge, of Kentucky, at their head, who still insisted 
that any resort by the Government to the use of the war 
power against the rebels was unconstitutional, and could only 
end in the destruction of the Union ; but the general senti- 
ment of both Houses fully sustained the President in the steps 
he had taken. The subject of slavery was introduced into the 
discussion commenced by Senator Powell, of Kentucky, who 
proposed on the 18th to amend the Army Bill by adding a 
section that no part of the army should be employed "in sub- 
jecting or holding as a conquered province any sovereign state 
now or lately one of the United States, or in abolishing or in- 
terfering with African slavery in any of the States." The 
debate which ensued elicited the sentiments of members on 
this subject. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, concurred in the senti- 
ment that the war was " not to be waged for the purpose of 
subjugating any state or freeing any slave, or to interfere with 
the social or domestic institutions of any State or any people ; 
it was to'preserve this Union, to maintain the Constitution as 
it is in all its clauses, in all its guarantees, without change or 
limitation." Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, assented to this, but 
also declared that if the South should protract the war, and 
" it should turn out that either this Government or slavery 
must be destroyed, then the people of the North — the Con- 
servative people of the North — would say, rather than let the 
Government perish, let slavery perish." Mr. Lane, of Kansa?, 
did not believe that slavery could survive in any state the 



152 PEESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMIXISTEATION. 

march of tlie Union armies. These seemed to be the senti- 
ments of both branches of Congress. The amendment was re- 
jected and bills were passed ratifying the acts of the President, 
anlhorizing him to accept the services of half a million of vol- 
lunteers, and placing five hundred millions of dollars at the 
disposal of the Government for the prosecution of the war. 

On the loth of July, Mr. McClernand, a democrat from Illi- 
nois, offered a resolution pledging the House to vote any 
amount of money and any number of men necessary to sup- 
press the rebellion, and restore the authority of the Govern- 
ment, which was adopted with but five opposing votes ; and 
on the 22d of July, Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, offiered the 
following resolution, defining the objects of the war: 

liesolved by the Hmise of Representatives of the Congress of the United 
Slates, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the 
countiy by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in arms againct 
the constitutional Government, and in anas around the capital ; that in 
this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion 
or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country ; that 
this war is not waged on their part in anj' spirit of oppression, or for an}' 
puriJose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or inter- 
fering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to 
defend and maintain the mprcmney of the Constitution, and to preserve 
the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States 
imimpaired ; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war 
ought to cease. 

This resolution was adopted with but two dissenting votes. 
Tt was accepted by the whole country as defining the objects 
and limiting the continuance of the war, and was regarded with 
special favor by the loyal citizens of the Border States, whose 
sensitiveness on the subject of slavery had been skilfully and 
zealously played upon by the agents and allies of the rebel con- 
federacy. The w'ar was universally represented by these men as 
waged for the destruction of slavery, and as aiming, not at the 
preservation of the Union, but the emancipation of the slaves ; 
and there was great danger that these appeals to the pride, 



SLATKRT AND CONFISCATION. 153 

the interest, and the prejudices of the Border Slave States 
might bring them to join their fortunes to those of the rebel- 
lion. The passage of this resolution, with so great a degree 
of unanimity', had a very soothing efiect upon the apprehen- 
sions of these states, and contributed largely to strengthen the 
Government in its contest with the rebellion. 

The sentiments of Congress on this matter, as well as on 
the general subject of the war, were still further developed in 
the debates which followed the introduction to the House of a 
bill passed by the Senate to " confiscate property used for 
insurrectionary purposes." It was referred to the Judiciary 
Committee and reported back with an amendment, providing 
that whenever any slave should bo required or permitted by 
his master to take up arms, or be employed in any fort, 
dock-yard, or in any military service in aid of the rebellion, he 
should become entitled to his freedom. Mr. WicldifFe and 
Mr. Burnett of Kentucky at once contested the passage of the 
bill on the ground that the Government had no right to inter- 
fere in any Avay with the relation existing between a master 
and his slave ; — and they were answered by the northern mem- 
bers with the argument that the Government certainly had a 
right to confiscate property of any kind employed in the 
rebellion, and that there was no more reason for protecting 
slavery against the consequences of exercising this right, than 
for shielding any other interest that might be thus involved. 
The advocates of the bill denied that it was the intention of 
the law to emancipate the slaves, or that it would bear any 
such construction in the courts of justice. They repudiated 
the idea that men in arms against the Union and Constitution 
could claim the protection of the Constitution, and thus derive 
from that instrument increased ability to secure its destruction ; 
but they based their proposed confiscation of slave property 
solely on the ground that it was a necessary means to the 
prosecution of the war, and not in any sense the object for 



154 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMIXISTKATION-. 

which the war was waged. After a protracted debate, that 
section of the bill which related to this subject was passed — 
ayes 60, uoes 48, in the following form : 

That whenever hereafter, during the present insurrection against the 
Government of the United States, any person claimed to be lield to labor 
or service, under the laws of any State, shall be required or permitted 
by the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or by 
the lawful agent of such person, to take up arms against the United 
States, or shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such 
service or labor is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to work or to 
be employed in or upon any fort, navy-yard, dock, armory, ship, or in- 
trenchment, or in any military or naval service whatever, against the 
Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in 
every such case, the person to whom such service is claimed to be due, 
shall forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State, or of tlie 
United States, to the contrary notwithstanding; and whenever there- 
after the person claiming such labor or service shall seek to enforce his 
claim, it shall be a full and sufficient answer to such claim that the per- 
son whose service or labor is claimed, had been employed in hostile ser- 
vice against the Government of the United States, contrary to the 
provisions of this act. 

Congress closed its extra session on the 6th of August. It 
had taken the most vigorous and effective measures for the 
suppression of the rebellion, having clothed the President with 
even greater power than he had asked for in the prosecution 
of the war, and avoided with just fidelity all points which 
could divide and weaken the loyal sentiment of the country. 
The people responded with hearty applause to the patriotic 
action of their representatives. The universal temper of the 
country was one of buoyancy and hope. Throughout the early 
part of the summer the rebels had been steadily pushing troops 
through Virginia to the borders of the Potomac, menacing tlie 
national capital with capture, until in the latter part of Juul- 
they had an army of not far from 35,000 men, holding a strong 
position along the Bull Run creek, — its left posted at Win- 
chester, and its right resting at Manassas. It was determined 



THE DEFEAT AT BULL BUN. 155 

to attack this force and drive it from the vicinity of Washing- 
ton, and the general belief of the country was that this would 
substantially end the war. The national array, numbering 
about 30,000 men, moved from the Potomac, on the 16th of 
July, under General McDowell, and the main attack was made 
on the 21st. It resulted in the defeat, with a loss of 480 
killed and 1,000 wounded, of our forces, and their falling back, 
in the utmost disorder and confusion, upon Washington. Our 
army was completely routed, and if the rebel forces had known 
the extent of their success, and had been in condition to avail 
themselves of it with vigor and energy, the Capital would 
easily have fallen into their bauds. 

The result of this battle took the whole country by surprise. 
The most sanguine expectations of a prompt and decisive 
victory had been universally entertained ; and the actual issue 
first revealed to the people the prospect of a long and bloody 
war. But the public heart was not in the least discouraged. 
On the contrary, the effect was to rouse still higher the 
courage and determination of the people. No one dreamed 
for an instant of submission. The most vigorous efforts were 
made to reorganize the army, to increase its numbers by 
volunteering, and to establish a footing for national troops at 
various points along the rebel coast. On the 28th of August 
Fort Hatteras was surrendered to the National forces, and on 
the 31st of October Port Royal, on the coast of South 
Carolina, fell into possession of the United States. On the 
3d of December Ship Island, lying between Mobile and New 
Orleans, was occupied. Preparations were also made for an 
expedition against New Orleans, and by a series of combined 
movements the rebel forces were driven out of Western Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky and Missouri — States in which the population 
had from the beginning of the contest been divided in senti- 
ment and in action. 

On the 31st of October General Scott, finding himself un- 



156 PRESIDENT Lincoln's aumixistkation. 

able, in cousequence of illness and advancing age, to take the 
field or discbarge tbe duties imposed by the enlarging contest, 
resigned his position as commander of the army, in the fol- 
lowing letter to the Secretary of War : 

Head-Quarteus of the Army, ) 
Wasuxxgton, October 31, 1861. J 
The ITon. S. Caiieron, Secretary of War : 

Sir : For more than three years I have been unable, from a hurt, to 
mount a horse, or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that 
with much pain. Other and new infirmities — dropsy and vertigo — 
admonish me that repose of mind and body, with the appliances of 
surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a little more to a life 
already protracted much beyond the usual span of man. 

It is under such circumstances — made doubly painful by the unnatural 
and unjust rebelUon now raging in the Southern States of our (so late) 
prosperous and hapjay Union — that I am compelled to request that my 
name be placed on the list of army officers retired from active service. 

As this request is founded on an absolute right, granted by a recent 
act of Congress, I am entirely at liberty to say it is with deep regret 
that I withdraw myself, in these momentous times, from the orders of a 
President who has treated me with distinguished kindness and courtesy; 
whom I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be jDatriotic, without 
sectional partialities or prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the 
performance of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance. 

And to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now officially address for the last 
time, I beg to acknowledge my many obligations, for the uniform high 
consideration I have received at your hands ; and have the honor to 
remain, sir, with high respect, your obedient servant. 

WlXFIELD SCOTT. 

President Lincoln waited upon General Scott at his resi- 
dence, accompanied by his Cabinet, and made personal ex- 
pression to him of the deep regret which he, in common with 
the whole country, felt in parting with a public servant so 
venerable in years and so illustrious for the services he had 
rendered. lie also issued the following order : 

On the first day of November, 18G1, upon his own application to 
the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutcnant-Gencral Win- 



TREATMENT OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 157 

field Scott is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed, upon the list 
of retired ofBcers of the army of the United States, without reduction 
of his current pay, subsistence, or allowances. 

The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that 
General Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while 
the President and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the na- 
tion's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of 
the important public services rendered by him to his country during 
his long and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully dis- 
tinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the 
Plag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion. 

Abraham Lixcoln. 

The command of the army then devohed by appointment 
upon Major-General McClellan, who had been recalled from 
Western Virginia after the battle of Bull Run, and liad de- 
voted himself to the task of recruiting- the army in front of 
Washington, and preparing it for the defence of the capital, 
and for a^fresh advance upon the forces of the rebellion. 

It cannot have escaped attention that thus far, in its policy 
concerning the war, the government had been very greatly in- 
fluenced by a desire to prevent the Boi*der Slave States from 
joining the rebel confederacy. Their accession w^ould have 
added immensely to the forces of the rebellion, and would 
have increased very greatly the labor and difficulty of its sup- 
pression. The administration and Congress had, therefore, 
avoided, so far as possible, any measures in regard to slavery 
which could needlessly excite the hostile prejudices of the 
people of the Border States. The Confiscation Act affected 
only those slaves who should be " required oi- permitted" by 
their masters to render service to the rebel cause. It did not 
in any respect change the condition of any others. The Pres- 
ident, in the executive department, acted upon the same prin- 
ciple. The question first arose in Virginia, simultaneously at 
Fortress Monroe and in the western part of the state. On the 
26th of May, General McClellan issued an address to the peo- 



158 PRESIDENT Lincoln's admlnisteatiox. 

plo of the district under his command, in which he said to 
theiu, " Understand one thing clearly : not only will we ab- 
stain from all interference with your slaves, but we will, on 
the contrary, with an iron hand crush any attempt at insurrec- 
tion on their part." On the 27th of May, General Butler, in 
command at Fortress Monroe, wrote to the Secretary of War 
that he was greatly embarrassed by the number of slaves that 
■were coming in from the surrounding country and seeking 
protection within the lines of his camp. He had determined 
to regard them as contraband of war, and to employ their 
labor at a fair compensation, against which should be charged 
the expense of their support — the relative value to be adjusted 
afterwards. The Secretary of War, in a letter dated May 
30th, expressed the approval by the Government of the course 
adopted by General Butler, and directed him, on the one 
hand, to " permit no interference by the persons under his 
command with the relations of persons held to service under 
the laws of any state," and on the other, to " refrain from sur- 
rendering to alleged masters any such persons who miglit 
come within his lines," 

On the 8th of August, after the passage of the Confiscation 
Act by Congress, the Secretary of AVar again wrote to General 
Butler, setting forth somewhat more fully the views of the 
President and the administration upon this subject, as follows : 

It is the desire of the President tiiat all existing rights in all the Slates 
he fully respecttd and maintained. The war now prosecuted on the part 
of the Federal Government is a war for the Union and for the preserva- 
tion of all constitutional rights of States and the citizens of the States 
in the Union. Hence no question can arise as to fugitives from service 
within the States and territories in which the authority of the Union is 
fully acl<nowledged. The ordinary forms of judicial proceeding, which 
niuLt be respected by military and civil authorities alike, will suflicc for 
the enforcement of all legal claims. But in States wholly or partially 
under insurrectionary control, where the laws of the United States are 
so far opposed and resisted that they cannot be effectually enforced, it 



THE SLAVE QUESTI0:N^. 159 

13 obvious that rights dependent on the execution of those laws must 
temporarily fail ; and it is equally obvious that rights dependent on the 
laws of the States within which military operations are conducted must 
be necessarily subordinated to the military exigencies created by the 
insurrection, if not wholly forfeited by the treasonable conduct of par- 
ties claiming them. To this general rule rights 'to services can form no 
exception. 

The act of Congress approved August 6th, ISGl, declares that if per- 
sons held to service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, 
the right to their services shall be forfeited, and such persons shall be 
discharged therefrom. It follows of necessity that no claim can be re- 
cognized by the military authorities of the Union to the services of such 
persons when fugitives. 

A more difficult question is presented in respect to persons escaping 
from the service of loyal masters. It is quite apparent that the laws of 
the State, under which only the services of such fugitives can be 
claimed, must needs be wholly, or almost wholly suspended, as to 
remedies, by the insurrection and the military measures necessitated by 
it, and it is equally apparent that the substitution of military for 
iudieial measures, for the enforcement of such claims, must be attended 
by great inconveniences, embarrassments, and injuries. 

Under these circumstances it seems quite clear that the substantial 
rights of loyal masters will be best protected by receiving such fugitives, 
as well as fugitives from disloyal masters, into the service of the United 
States, and employing them under such organizations and in such occu- 
pations as circumstances may suggest or require. Of course a record 
should be kept, showing the name and description of the fugitives, the 
name and the character, as loyal or disloyal, of the master, and such 
facts as may be necessary to a correct understandiug of the circum- 
stances of each case after tranquillity shall have been restored. Upon 
the return of peace, Congress will doubtless properly provide for all the 
persons thus received iuto the service of the Union, and for just com- 
pensation to loyal masters. In this way only, it would seem, can the 
duty and safety of the Government, and the just rights of all, be fully 
reconciled and harmonized. 

You will therefore consider yourself as instructed to govern your 
future action, in respect to fugitives from service, by the principles 
herein stated, and will report from time to time, and at least twice in 
each month, your action in the premises to tins Department. You will, 
however, neither authorize nor permit any interference, by the troops 



IGO PRESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADHIXISTKATION. 

under your command, with the servants of peaceful citizens, in house or 
field, nor will you, in any way, encourage such servants to leave tho 
lawful service of their masters ; nor will you, except in cases where the 
public safety may seem to require it, prevent tlie voluntary return of any 
fugitive to the service from which he may have escaped. 

The same policy was adopted in every part of the country, 
All interference with the internal institutions of any state was 
expressly forbidden ; but the Government would avail itself of 
the services of a portion of the slaves, taking care fully to pro- 
vide for compensation to loyal masters. On the 16th of Au- 
gust, Hon. C. B. Smith,' Secretary of the Interior, in a speech 
made at Providence, R. L, took occasion to declare the policy 
of the administration upon this subject. Its theory, said he, 
is that " the states are sovereign within their spheres ; the 
Government of the United States has no more right to inter- 
fere with the institution of slavery in South Carolina than it 
has to interfere with the peculiar institution of Rhode Island 
whose benefits I have enjoyed." 

On the 31st of August, General Fremont, commanding the 
western department, which embraced Missouri and a part of 
Kentucky, issued an order " extending and declaring estab- 
lislied martial law throughout the state of Missouri," and 
declaring that "the property, real and personal, of all persons 
in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the 
United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken 
an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be 
confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they 
liave, are hereby declared free meny The President regardetl 
this order as transcending the authority vested in him by the 
Act of Congress, and wrote to General Fremont, calling his 
attention to this point, and requesting him to modify his 
proclamation so as to make it conform to the law. General 
Fremont, desiring to throw off" from himself the responsibility 
of changing his action, desired an explicit order — wliereupou 
the President thus addressed him : — 



GENERAL FEEMOJfT AISTD THE PRESIDENT. IGl 

"Washington, D. C, Stpkinber 11, ISGl. 
Major-General John C. Fremont : 

Sir : Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d inst., was just 
received. Assured that you upon the ground could better judge of the 
necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing your 
proclamation of August 30, I perceived no general objection to it ; the 
jiarticular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property 
and the liberation of slaves appeared to me to be objectionable in its 
non-conformity to the act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, 
upon the same subjects, and hence I wrote you expressing my wish that 
that clause should be modified accordingly. Tour answer just received 
expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order 
for the modification, which I very cheerfully do. It is therefore 
ordered that the said clause of said proclamation be so modified, held 
and construed as to conform with, and not to transcend, the provisions 
on the same subject contained in the act of Congress entitled " An act 
to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved 
August 6, 1861, and the said act be published at length with this 
order. Your obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln. 

These views of the Government were still farther enforced 
in a letter from the Secretary of War to General T. W. Sher- 
man, who commanded the expedition to Port Royal, and in 
orders issued by General Dix in Virginia on tiie 17th of No- 
vember, and by General Halleclc, who succeeded General Fre- 
mont in the western department, prohibitino; fugitive slaves 
from being i-eceived within the lines of the army. During all 
this time strenuous efforts were made in various quarters to 
induce the President to depart from this policy, and not only 
to proclaim a general emancipation of all the slaves, but to 
put arms in their hands and employ them in the field against 
the rebels. But they were ineffectual. The President ad- 
hered firmly and steadily to the policy which the then exist- 
ing circumstances of the country, in his judgment, rendered 
wise and necessary ; and he was sustained in this action by 
the public sentiment of the loyal States, and by the great body 



162 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

of the people in the slave States along the border. The 
course which he pursued at that time contributed largely, . 
beyond doubt, to strengthen the cause of the Union in those 
Border States, and especially to withdraw Tennessee from her 
hastily formed connection with the rebel confederacy. 

In the early part of November an incident occurred which 
threatened for a time to involve the country in open war with 
England. On the 7th of that month the British mail steamer 
Trent left Havana for St. Thomas, having on board Messrs. 
J. M. Mason and John Slidell, on their way as commissioners 
from the Confederate States to England and France. On the 
8th the Treiit was hailed from the U. S. frigate San Jacinto, 
Captain Wilkes, and brought to by a shot across her bows. 
Two officers and about twenty armed men from the latter then 
went on board the Trent, searched her, and took from her by 
force and against the protest of the British officers, the two 
rebel commissioners, with Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, their 
secretaries, who were brought to the United States and lodged 
in Fort Warren, the Trent being released and proceeding on 
her way. The most intense excitement pervaded the country 
when news of this affair was received. The feeling was one 
of admiration at the boldness of Captain Wilkes, and of exult- 
ation at the capture of the rebel emissaries. In England the 
most intense and passionate resentment took possession of the 
public mind. The demand for instant redress was universal, 
and, in obedience to it, the Government at once ordered troops 
to Canada and the outfit of vessels of war. 

Our Government met the matter with prompt and solf-pos- 
sessed decision. On the 30th of November Mr. Seward 
wrote to Mr. Adams a general statement of the facts of the 
case, accompanied by the assurance that " in the capture of 
Messrs. Mason and Slidell Captain Wilkes had acted without 
any instructions from the Government," and that our Gov- 
ernment was prepared to discuss the matter in a perfectly fair 



THE TEE]ST AFFAIR. 163 

and friendly spirit as soon as the ground taken by tlie British 
Government should be made known. Earl Russell, under 
tiie same date, wrote to Lord Lyons, rehearsing the facts of 
the case, and saying that the British Government was " willing 
to believe that the naval officer who committed the aggression 
was not acting in compliance with any authority from his 
Government," because the Government of the United States 
" must be fully aware that the British Government could not 
allow such an affront to the national honor to pass without full 
reparation." Earl Russell trusted, therefore, that when the 
matter should be brought under its notice the United States 
Government would, "of its own accord, offer to the British 
Government such redress as alone could satisfy the British 
nation, namely, the liberation of the four gentlemen and their 
delivery to the British minister, that they may again be placed 
under British protection, and a suitable apology for the 
aggression which has been committed." In a subsequent note 
Lord Lyons was instructed to wait seven days after its delivery 
for a reply to this demand, and in case no answer, or any other 
answer than a compliance with its terms, should be given by 
the expiration of that time, he was to leave AVashington with 
the archives of the legation, and repair immediately to 
London. 

On the 26th of December the Secretary of State, by direc- 
tion of the President, sent a reply to this dispatch, in which 
the whole question was discussed at length, and with conspic- 
uous ability. The Government decided that the detention of 
the vessel and the removal from her of the emissaries of the 
rebel confederacy, was justifiable by the laws of war and the 
practice and precedents of the British Government ; but that 
in assuming to decide upon the liability of these persons to 
capture for himself, instead of sending them before a legal 
tribunal where a regular trial could be had. Captain Wilkes 
had departed from the rule of international law uniformly 



164 PRESIDENT LlifCOLN's ADMIXISTEATION. 

asserted by the American Government, and forming part of its 
most cherished policy. The Government decided, therefore, 
that the four persons in question would be " cheerfuhy liber- 
ated." This decision, sustained by the reasoning advanced 
in its support, commanded the inmiediate and universal ac- 
quiescence of the Ajnerican people; while in England it was 
received with hearty applause by the friends of this country, 
especially as it silenced the clamors and disappointed the 
hostile hopes of its enemies. The French Government had 
joined that of England in its representations upon this subject, 
and the decision of our Government was received there with 
equal satisfaction. The effect of the incident, under the just 
and judicious course adopted by the Administration, was 
eminently favorable to the United States, — increasing the 
general respect for its adherence to sound principles of public 
law, and silencing effectually the slander that its Government 
was too weak to disappoint or thwart a popular clamor. One 
of the immediate fruits of the discussion was the prompt rejec- 
tion of all demands for recognizing the independence of the 
Confederate States. 



MEETIKG OF CONGEESS PEESIDENT S MESSAGE. 1G5 



CHAPTER V. 

THE REGULAR SESSION OF CONGRESS, DEC. 1861. THE MES- 
SAGE. DEBATES, ETC. 

Congress met in regular session (the second of the thirty- 
seventh Congress) on the 2d of December, 1861. On the 
next day the President sent in his Annual Message, as follows : 

Fellow-Citizexs of the Senate and nousE of Representatives: 

In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, we have cause of 
great gratitude to God for unusual good health, and most abundant 
harvests. 

You will not be surprised to learn that, in the peculiar exigencies of 
the times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with 
profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs. 

A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the whole 
year, been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A 
nation which endures factious domestic division, is exposed to disrespect 
abroad ; and one party, if not botli, is sure, sooner or later, to invoice 
foreign intervention. 

Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the 
counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although 
measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate 
and injurious to those adopting them. 

The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin 
of our country, in return for the aid and comfort which they have in- 
voked abroad, have received less patronage and encouragement than 
they probably expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents 
have seemed to assume, that foreign nations, in this case, discarding all 
moral, social, and treaty obHgations, would act solely and selfishly for 
the most speedy restoration of commerce, including especially the ac- 
quisition of cotton, those nations appear, as yet, not to have seen their 
way to their object more directly, or clearly, through the destruction, 
than through the preservation, of the Union. If wo could dare to be- 
lieve that foreign nations are actuated by no higher principle than this, 



1G6 TEESIDEXT LIXCOLN's ADillNISTKATlON-. 

I am quite sure a sound argument could be made to show tliem that 
they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this 
rebellion, than by giving encouragement to it. 

The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for exciting foreign 
nations to hostQity against us, as already intimated, is the embarrass- 
ment of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably, saw from 
tlie first, that it was the Union which made, as well our foreign as our 
domestic commerce. They can scarcely have failed to perceive that the 
effort for disunion produced the existing difficulty ; and that one strong 
nation promises more durable peace, and a more extensive, valuable, 
and reliable commerce, than can the same nation broken into hostile 
fragments. 

It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign States ; 
because whatever might be their wishes or dispositions, the iutegiity of 
our country and tlio stability of our Government mainly depend, not 
upon them, but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of 
the American people. The correspondence itself, with the usual reser- 
vations, is herewith submitted. 

I venture to hope it will appear that we have practised prudence and 
liberality towards foreign powers, averting causes of irritation; and with 
firmness maintaining our own rights and lionor. 

Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other State, 
foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend 
that adequate and ample measures be adopted for maintaining the pub- 
lic defences on every side. "While, under this general recommendation, 
provision for defending our sea-coast line readily occurs to the mind, I 
also, in the same connection, ask the attention of Congress to our great 
lakes and rivers. It is believed that some fortifications and depots of arms 
and munitions, with harbor and navigation improvements, all at well- 
selected points upon these, would be of great importance to the national 
defence and preservation. I ask attention to the views of the Secretary 
of War, expressed in his report upon the same general subject. 

I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of East Tennessee and 
Western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and other 
faithful parts of the Union by railroad. I, therefore, recommend, as a 
military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such 
road as speedily as possible. 

Kentucky will no doubj co-operate, and, through her Legislature, 
make the most judicious selection of a line. The northern teruiiuug 
must connect with some existing railroad, and whether the route shall 



THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE. 167 

be from Lexington or Nicholasvillo to the Cumberland Gap. or from 
Lebanon to the Tennessee line, in the direction of Knoxville, or on some 
still ditl'erent line, can easily be determined. Kentucky and the General 
Government co-operating, the worlv can be completed in a very short 
time, and when done it will be not only of vast present usefulness, but 
also a vahiable permanent improvement worth its cost in all the future. 

Some treaties, designed chiefly for the interests of commerce, and 
having no grave political importance, have been negotiated, and will be 
submitted to the Senate for their consideration. Although we have 
failed to induce some of the commercial Powers to adopt a desirable 
melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have removed all obstruc- 
tions from the way of this humane reform, except such as are merely of 
temporary and accidental occurrence. 

I invite your attention to the correspondence between her Britannic 
Majesty's Minister, accredited to this Government, and the Secretary of 
State, relative to the detention of the British ship Perthshire in Juno 
last by the United States steamer Massachusetts, for a supposed breach 
of the blockade. As this detention was occasioned by an obvious mis- 
apprehension of the facts, and as justice requires that we should com- 
mit no belligerent act not founded in strict right as sanctioned by public 
law, I recommend that an appropriation be made to satisfy the reason- 
able demand of the owners of the vessel for her detention. 

I repeat the recommendation of my predecessor in his annual message 
to Congress in December last in regard to the disposition of the surplus 
which will probably remain after satisfying the claims of American 
citizens against China, pursuant to the awards of the commissioners 
under the act of the 3d of March, 1859. 

If, however, it should not be deemed advisable to carry that recom- 
mendation into effect, I would suggest that authority be given for in- 
vesting the principal over the proceeds of the surplus referred to in 
good securities, with a view to the satisfaction of such other just claim 
of our citizens against China as are not unlikely to arise hereafter in the 
course of our extensive trade with that Empire. 

By the act of the 5th of August last. Congress authorized the Presi- 
dent to instruct the commanders of suitable vessels to defend themselves 
against and to capture pirates. This authority has been exercised in a 
single instance only. 

For the more effectual protection of our extensive and valuable com- 
merce in the Eastern seas, especially, it seems to me that it would also 
be advisable to authorize the commanders of sailing- vessel.^ to recapture 



138 PERSiDEXT Lincoln's administration. 

any prizes which pinites may make of the United States vessels and 
their cargoes, and the Consular Courts established by law in Eastern 
countries to adjudicate the cases in the event that this should not be 
objected to by the local authorities. 

If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in t\ ith- 
holding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti 
and Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to in- 
augurate a novel policy in regard to them without the approbation of 
Congress, I submit for your consideration the expediency of an appro- 
priation for maintaining a Charge d^ Affaires near each of those new 
States. It does not admit of do\ibt that important commercial advantages 
might be secured by favorable treaties with them. 

Tlie operations of the Treasury during the period which has elapsed 
since your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The 
patriotism of the people has placed at the disposal of the Government 
the large means demanded by the public exigencies. Much of tho 
national loan has been tai^en by citizens of the industrial classes, whose 
confidence in their country's faith, and zeal for tlieir country's deliver- 
ance from its preseut perd, have induced them to contribute to the 
support of the Government the whole of their limited acquisitions. This 
fact imposes peculiar obligations to economy and disbursement and 
energy in action. The revenue from all sources, including loans for the 
financial year ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $86,835,900 27 ; 
and the expenditures for the same period, including payments on account 
of the public debt, were $84,578,034 47, leaving a balance in tho 
treasury, on the 1st of July, of $2,257,065 80 for the first quarter of tho 
financial year ending on September 30, 1861. The receipts from all 
sources, including the balance of July 1, were $102,532,509 27, and the 
expenses $98,239,733 09, leaving a balance, on tho 1st of October, 
1861, of $4,292,776 18. 

Estimates for the remaining three-quarters of the year and for the 
financial year of 1803, together with his views of the ways and means 
for meeting the dcu:ands contemplated by them, will be submitted to 
Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury. It is gratifying to know 
that the expenses made necessary by the rebellion are not beyond tlio 
resources of the loyal people, and to believe that the same patriotism 
which lias thus far sustained the Government will continue to sustain it 
till peace and union shall again bless the land. I respectfully refer to 
the report of the Secretary of War for information respecting the 
numerical strength of the army, and for recommendations having in 



THE president's MESSAGE. 169 

view an increase of its efSciencj, and the well-being of the various 
branches of the service intrusted to his care. It is gratifying to know 
that the patriotism of the people has proved equal to the occasion, and 
that the number of troops tendered greatly exceed the force which 
Congress authorized me to call into the field. I refer with pleasure to 
these portions of his report whicli make allusion to the creditable degree 
of discipline already attained by our troops, and to the excellent sani- 
tary condition of the entire army. The recommendation of the Secre- 
tary for aa organization of the militia upou a uniform basis is a subject 
of vital importance to tlie future safety of the country, and is commended 
to the serious attention of Congress. The large addition to the regular 
army, in connection with the defection that has so considerably dimin- 
ished the number of its officers, gives pecuUar importance to his recom- 
mendation for increasing the corps of cadets to the greatest capacity of 
the MUitary Academy. 

By mere omission I presume Congress has failed to provide chaplains 
for the hospitals occupied by the volunteers. This subject was brought 
to my notice, and I was induced to draw up the form of a letter, one 
copy of which, properly addressed, has been dehvered to each of the 
persons, and at the dates respectively named and stated in a schedule, 
containing, also, the form of the letter marked A, and herewith trans- 
mitted. These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties 
designated at the times respectively stated in the schedule, and have 
labored faitlifuUy therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they 
be compensated at the same rate as chaplains in the army. I further 
suggest that general provision be made for chaplains to serve at hospi- 
tals, as well as with regiments. 

The reijort of the Secretary of the Navy presents, in detail, the oper- 
ations of that brancli of the service, the activity and energy which have 
characterized its administration, and the results of measures to increase 
its efficiency and power. Such liave been the additions, by construction 
and purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been created and 
brought into service since our difficulties commenced. 

Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger than ever 
before assembled under our flag have been put afloat, and performed 
deeds which have increased our naval renown. 

I would invite special attention to the recommendation of the Secretary 
for a more perfect organization of the navy, by introducing additional 
grades in the service. 

The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory, and the aug- 
S 



170 PRESIDENT UNCOLN's ADMIXISTRATIOJf. 

gestions submitted by the department will, it is believed, if adopted, ob- 
viate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the effi- 
ciency of the navy. 

There are three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court — two 
by the decease of Justices Daniel and McLean, and one by the resigna- 
tion of Justice Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations to 
fill these vacancies for reasons which I will now state. Two of the out- 
going judges resided within the States now overrun by revolt; so that 
if successors were appointed in the same localities, they could not now 
serve upon their circuits ; and many of the most competent men there 
probably would not take the personal hazard of acceptin.<r to serve, even 
here, upon the supreme bench. I have been unwilling to throw all the 
appointments northward, thus disabling myself from doing justice to the 
South on the return of peace ; although I may remariv that to transfer 
to the North one which has heretofore been in the South, would not, 
with reference to territory and population, be unjust. 

During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge McLean, his cir- 
cuit grew into an empire — altogether too large for any one judge to give 
the courts therein more than a nominal attendance — rising in population 
from one million four hundred and seventy thousand and eighteen, in 
18.30, to six million one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred 
and five, in 1860. 

Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present judicial 
system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that all 
the States shall be accommodated with Circuit Courts, attended by su- 
premo judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Flor- 
ida, Te.xas, California, and Oregon, have never had any such courts. 
Nor can this well be remedied without a change of the system; because 
the adding of judges to the Supreme Court, enough for the accommoda- 
tion of all parts of the country with Circuit Courts, would create a court 
altogether too numerous for a judicial body of any sort. And the evil, 
if it be one, will increase as new States come into the Unioa Circuit 
Courts are useful, or they are not useful If useful, no State should be 
denied them ; if not useful, no State should have them. Let them be 
provided for all, or abohshed as to all. 

Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I think, would bo 
an improvement upon our present system. Let the Supremo Court be 
of convenient number in every event. Then, first, let the whole country 
be divided into circuits of convenient size, the supreme judges to ser\-e 
in a number of them corresponding to their own number, and indepen- 



THE president's MESSAGE. 171 

dent circuit judges be provided for all the rest. Or, secondly, let the 
supreme judges be relieved from circuit duties, and circuit judges pro- 
vided for all the circuits. Or, thirdly, dispense witli circuit courts alto- 
gether, leaving the judicial functions wholly to the district courts and an 
independent Supreme Court. 

I respectfully recommend to the consideration of Congress the present 
condition of the statute laws, with the hope that Congress will be able 
to find an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which 
constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of 
them. Since the organization of the Government, Congress has enacted 
some five thousand acts and joint resolutions, which fill more than six 
thousand closely-printed pages, and are scattered through many vol- 
umes. Many of these acts have been drawn in haste and without suffi- 
cient caution, so that their provisions are often obscure in themselves, 
or in conflict with each other, or at least so doubtful as to render it very 
difficult for even the best-informed persons to ascertain precisely what 
the statute law really is. 

It seems to me very important that the statute laws should be 
made as plain and intelligible as possible, and be reduced to as small a 
compass as may consist with the fulness and precision of the will of the 
legislature and the perspicuity of its language. This, well done, would, 
I think, greatly facilitate the labors of those whose duty it is to assist in 
the administration of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the 
people, by placing before them, in a more accessible and intelligible 
form, the laws which so deeply concern their interests and their duties. 

I am informed by some whose opinions I respect, that all the acts of 
Congress now in force, aud of a permanent and general nature, might be 
revised and re-written, so as to be embraced in one volume (or, at most, 
two volumes) of ordinary and convenient size. And I respectfully 
recommend to Congress to consider of the subject, and, if my suggestion 
be approved, to devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most 
proper for the attainment of the end proposed. 

One of the unavoidable consequences of the present insurrection is the 
entire suppression, in many places, of all the ordinary means of admin- 
istering civil justice by the officers, and in the forms of existing law. 
This is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent States; and as 
our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those States, 
the practical evil becomes more apparent. There are no courts nor offi- 
cers to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement 
of their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent States ; and there 



1*72 PfiESIDENT LIXCOLn's ADMINISTRATION. 

is a vast amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated 
it as high as two himdred million dollars, due, in large part, from insur- 
gents in open rebellion to loyal citizens who are, even now, making great 
sacrifices in the discharge of their patriotic duty to support the Govern- 
ment. 

Under these circumstances, I have been urgently solicited to estabhsh, 
by military power, courts to administer summary justice in such cases. 
I have thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the 
end proposed — the collection of the debts — was just and right in itself, 
but because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of neces- 
sity in the unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Congress, I 
suppose, are equal to the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the 
whole matter to Congress, with the hope that a plan may be devised for 
the administration of justice in all such parts of the insurgent States and 
Territories as may be under the control of this Government, whether by 
a voluntary return to allegiance and order, or by the power of our arms; 
this, however, not to be a permanent institution, but a temporary sub- 
stitute, and to cease as soon as tae ordinary courts can be re-established 
in peace. 

It is important that some more convenient moans should be provided, 
if possible, for the adjustment of claims against the Government, espe- 
cially in view of their increased number by reason of the war. It is as 
much the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself, in 
favor of citizens, as it is to administer the same between private indi- 
viduals. The investigation and adjudication of claims, in their nature 
belong to the judicial department ; besides, it is apparent that the atten- 
tion of Congress will be more than usually engaged, for some time to 
come, with great national questions. It was intended, by the organiza- 
tion of the Court of Claims, mainly to remove this branch of business 
from the halls of Congress; but while the court has proved to be an ef- 
fective and valuable means of investigation, it in great degree fails to 
effect the object of its creation, for want of power to make its judgments 
final. 

Fully aware of the delicacy, not to say the danger, of the subject, I 
commend to your careful consideration whether this power of making 
\udgments final may not properly be given to the court, reserving the 
right of appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court, with such 
other provisions as experience may have shown to be necessary. 

I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, the following 
being a summary statement of the condition of the department : 



THE president's MESSAGE. ilS 

The revenue from all sources during tlie fiscal year ending Ji.wc 30, 
1?61, including the annual permanent appropriation of seven hundred 
thousand dollars for the transportation of " free mail matter," was nine 
million, forty-nine thousand, two hundred and ninety-six dollars and 
forty cents, being about two per cent, less than the revenue for I860. 

The expenditures were thirteen million, six hundred and six thousand, 
seven hundred and fifty-nine dollars and eleven cents, showing a de- 
crease of more than eight per cent, as compared with those of the pre- 
vious year, and leaving an excess of expenditure over the revenue for 
the last fiscal year of four million, five hundred and fifty-seven thousand, 
four hundred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-one cents. 

The gross revenue for the year ending June 30, 1863, is estimated at 
an increase of four per cent, on that of 1861, making eight million, six 
hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars, to which should be added 
the earnings of the department in carrying free matter, viz. : seven hun- 
dred thousand dollars, making nine millions three hundred and eighty- 
three thousand dollars. 

The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at twelve million, five 
hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars, leaving an estimated de- 
ficiency of three million, one hundred and forty -five thousand dollars to 
be supplied from the Treasury, in addition to the permanent appropria- 
tion. 

The present insurrection shows, I think, that the extension of this 
district across the Potomac River, at the time of estabUshing the Capitol 
here, was eminently wise, and consequently that the relinquishment of 
that portion of it which lies within the State of Virginia was unwise and 
dangerous. I submit for your consideration the expediency of regaining 
that part of the district, and the restoration of the original boundaries 
thereof, through negotiations with the State of Virginia. 

The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with the accompanying 
documents, exhibits the condition of the several branches of the public 
business pertaining to that department. The depressing influences of 
the insurrection have been especially felt in the operations of the Patent 
and General Land OflBces. The cash receipts from the sales of public 
lands during the past year have exceeded the expenses of our land sys- 
tem only about two hundred thousand dollars. The sales have been 
entirely suspended in the Southern States, while the interruptions to the 
business of the country, and the diversion of large numbers of men from 
labor to military service, have obstructed settlements in the new States 
and territories of the Northwest. 



1*74 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

The receipts of the Patent OflBce have declined in nine months about 
one hundred thousand dollars, rendering a large reduction of the force 
employed necessary to make it self-sustaining. 

The demands upon the Pension OfiBce will be largely increased by tho 
insurrection. Numerous applications for pensions, based upon the cas- 
ualties of the existing war, have already been made. There is reason to 
believe that many who are now upon the pension rolls, and in receipt of 
the bounty of the Government, are in the ranks of the insurgent army, 
or giving them aid and comfort. The Secretary of the Interior has directed 
a suspension of the payment of the pensions of such persons upon proof 
of their disloyalty. I recommend that Congress authorize that ofiBcer 
to cause the names of such persons to be stricken from the pension 
rolls. 

The relations of the Government with the Indian tribes have been 
greatly disturbed by the insurrection, especially in tlie southern super- 
intendency and in that of New Mexico. The Indian country south of 
Kansas is in the possession of insurgents from Texas and Arkansas. 
The agents of the United States appointed since the 4th of March for 
this superintendency have been unable to reach their posts, while the 
most of those who were in office before that time have espoused the 
insurrectionary cause, and assume to exercise the powers of agents by 
virtue of commissions from the insurrectionists. It has been stated in the 
public press that a portion of those Indians have been organized as a 
military force, and are attached to the army of the insurgents. Although 
the Government has no official information upon this subject, letters 
fiave been written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by several promi- 
nent chiefs, giving assurance of their loyalty to the United States, and 
expressing a wish for the presence of Federal troops to protect them. It 
is believed that upon the repossession of the country by the Federal 
forces, the Indians will readily cease aU hostile demonstrations, and re- 
sume their former relations to the Government. 

Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation, has not a 
department, nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the 
Government. While it is fortunate that this great interest is so inde- 
pendent in its nature as to not have demanded and extorted more from 
the Government, I respectfully ask Congress to consider whether some- 
thing more cannot be given voluntarily with general advantage. 

Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture, commerce, 
and manufactures, would present a fund of information of great practical 
value to tho country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I ven- 



THE PKESIDEXt's MESSAGE. 175 

ture the opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might profit- 
ably be organized. 

The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African slave-trade 
hns been confided to the Department of the Interior, It is a subject of 
gratulatioti that the eflbrts which have been made for the suppression of 
this inhuman tragic have been recently attended with unusual success. 
Five vessels being fitted out for the slave-trade have been seized and con- 
demned. Two mates of vessels engaged in the trade, and one person in 
equipping a vessel as a slaver, have been convicted and subjected to the 
penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken with a cargo 
of Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted of the highest grade 
of ofience under our laws, the punishment of which is death. 

The Territories of Colorado, Dakotah, and Nevada, created by the last 
Congress, have been organized, and civil administration has been inau- 
gurated therein under auspices especially gratifying, when it is consid- 
ered that the leaven of treason was found existing in some of these new 
countries when the Federal officers arrived there. 

The abundant natural resources of these Territories, with the security 
and protection afi"orded by organized government, will doubtless invite 
to them a large immigation when peace shall restore the business of the 
country to its accustomed channels. I submit the resolutions of the 
Legislature of Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of the people 
of the Territory. So far the authority of the United States has been up- 
held in all the Territories, as it is hoped it will be in the future. I com- 
mend their interests and defence to the enlightened and generous care 
of Congress. 

I recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress the interests 
of the District of Columbia. The insurrection has been the cause of 
much suftering and sacrifice to its inhabitants, and as they have no rep- 
resentative in Congress, that body should not overlook their just claims 
upon the Government. 

At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing the 
President to take measures for focilitating a proper representation of the 
industrial interests of the United States at the exhibition of the indus- 
try of all nations to be holden at London in the year 1862. I regret to 
say I have been unable to give personal attention to this subject — a 
subject at once so interesting in itself, and so extensively and intimately 
connected -with the material prosperity of the world. Through the Sec- 
retaries of State and of the Interior a plan or system has been devised 
and partly matured, and which will be laid before you. 



176 PKEsiDEKT Lincoln's admixisteatioz^. 

Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An act to con- 
fiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," approved August 
6, 1861, the legal claims of certain persons to the labor and service of 
certain other persons have become forfeited ; and numbers of the latter, 
thus liberated, are already dependent on the United States, and must be 
provided for in some way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some 
of the States -will pass similar enactments for their own benefit respec- 
tively, and by operation of which persons of the same class will be 
thrown upon them for disposal In such case I recommend that Con- 
gress provide for accepting such persons from such States, according to 
some mode of valuation, in lieu, ^ro tanto, of direct taxes, or upon some 
other plan to be agreed on with such States resjiectively ; that such 
persons, on such acceptance by the General Government, be at once 
deemed free ; and that, in any event, steps be taken for colonizing both 
classes (or the one first mentioned, if the other shall not be brought 
into existence) at some place or places in a climate congenial to them. It 
might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people already 
in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be in- 
cluded in such colonization. 

To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of 
territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be ex- 
pended in the territorial acquisition. Having practised the acquisition 
of territory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitational power 
to do so is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned 
at first by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, 
yielded his scruples on the plea of great expediency. If it be said that 
the only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes for 
white men, this measure effects that object ; for the emigration of colored 
men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming here. 
Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana 
more on political and commercial grounds than on providing room for 
population. 

On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with 
the acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute 
necessity — that, without which the Government itself cannot bo perpet- 
uated ? 

The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted for sup- 
pressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the in- 
evitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and 
remorseless revolutionary struggle. 



THE president's MESSAGE. HI 

In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade 
of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by proc- 
lamation the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing 
those ports. 

So, also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the obligations 
of law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to 
confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law 
upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly con- 
sidered. The Union must be preserved; and hence all indispensable 
means must be employed. We should not be in haste to determine that 
radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as weU as the 
disloyal, are indispensable. 

The inaugural address at the beginning of the Administration, and 
the message to Congress at the late special session, were both mainly 
devoted to the domestic controversy out of which the insurrection and 
consequent war have sprung. Nothing now occurs to add or subtract 
to or from the principles or general purposes stated and expressed in 
those documents. 

The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at 
the assault upon Fort Sumter ; and a general review of what has oc- 
curred since may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain 
then is much better defined and more distinct now ; and the progress of 
events is plainly in the right direction. The insurgents confidently 
claimed a strong support from north of Mason and Dixon's line ; and the 
friends of the Union were not free from apprehension on the point. 
This, however, was soon settled definitely, and on the right side. South 
of the line, noble little Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland 
was made to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, 
bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within her hmits ; and we 
were many days, at one time, without the ability to bring a single regi- 
ment over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and railroads are 
repaired and open to the Government ; she already gives seven regiments 
to the cause of the Union, and none to the enemy ; and her people, at a 
regular election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a 
larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any candidate or 
any question. Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly 
and, I think, unchangeably ranged on the side of the Union. Missouri 
is comparatively quiet, and, I beheve, cannot again be overrun by the 
insurrectionists. These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Mis- 
souri, neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now 
8* 



178 PEESIDENT LIJfCOLN's ADMINISTRATION. 

an aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field for the Union ; 
while of their citizens, certainly not more than a third of that number, 
and they of doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms 
agaiust it. After a somewhat bloody struggle of months, winter closes 
on the Union people of "Western Virginia, leaving them masters of their 
own country. 

An insurgent fprce of about fifteen hundred, for months dominating 
the narrow peninsular region constituting the counties of Accomac and 
Xorthampton, and known as Eastern Shore of Virginia, together with 
some contiguous parts of Maryland, have laid down their arms ; and the 
people there have renewed their allegiance to, and accepted the protec- 
tion of, the old flag. This leaves no armed insurrectionist north of the 
Potomac, or east of the Chesapeake. 

Also we have obtained a footing at each of the isolated points on the 
southern coast of Ilatteras, Port Ro3'al, Tybee Island, near Savannah, 
and Ship Island ; and we likewise have some general accounts of popu- 
lar movements in behalf of the Union m North Carolina and Tennessee: 

Theso things demonstrate that the cause of the Union is advancing 
steadily and certainly southward. 

Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from 
the head of the army. During his long hfe the nation has not been un- 
mindful of his merit ; yet, on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and 
brilliantly he has served the country, from a time far back in our his- 
tory, when few of the now living had been born, and thenceforward 
continually, I cannot but think we are stiU his debtors. I submit, 
therefore, for your consideration what further mark of recognition is 
due to him, and to ourselves as a grateful people. 

With the retirement of General Scott came the executive duty of ap- 
pointing in his stead a general-in-chief of the army. It is a fortunate 
circumstance that neither in council nor country was there, so far as I 
know, any diftorence of opinion as to the proper person to be selected. 
The retiring chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor of General 
McClellan for the position ; and in this the nation seemed to give a 
unanimous concurrence. The designation of General McClellan is, there- 
fore, in considerable degree, the selection of the country as weU as of 
the Executive ; and hence there is better reason to hope there will be 
given him the coufidenco and cordial support thus, by fair implica- 
tion, promised, and without which he ctinnot, with so full efficiency, 
serve the country. 

It has been said that one bad general i.s better than two good ones: 



THE PKESIDENt's MESSAGE. 170 

and the saying is true, if taken to mean no more than that an army is 
better directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior 
ones at variance and cross-purposes with each other. 

And the same is true in all joint operations wherein tliose engaged 
can have none but a common end in view, and can dififer only as to the 
choice of means. In a storm at sea, no one on board can wish the ship 
to sink; and yet not unfrequently all go down together, because too 
many will direct, and no single mind can be allowed to control 

It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not exclu- 
sively a war upon the first principle of popular government — the rights 
of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave 
and maturely-considered public documents, as well as in the general 
tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of 
the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to 
participate in the selection of public officers, except the legislative, 
boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large control of 
the people in government is the source of all political evil Monarchy 
itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the 
people. 

In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit 
raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. 

It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be 
made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one point, with its 
connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief at- 
tention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not 
above, labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor 
is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless 
somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him 
to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that 
capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to ^york by their own 
consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. 
Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are 
either hired laborers, or what we call slaves. And further, it is as- 
sumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for 
life. 

Xow, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed ; 
nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the con- 
dition of a hired laborer. Both these, assumptions are false, and all in- 
ferences from them are groundless. 

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit 



180 PRESIDEJTT Lincoln's administkation. 

of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. 
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consider- 
ation. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any- 
other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will 
be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. 
The error is in assuming that the whole labor of comaiunity exists witli- 
m that relation. A few men own capital, and those few avoid labor 
themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for 
them. A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for 
others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern 
States, a majority of the whole people of aU colors are neither slaves 
nor masters ; while in the Northern, a large majority are neither hirers 
nor hired. Men, with their families — wives, sons, and daughters — 
work for themselves, on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, 
taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital 
on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not 
forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor 
with capital — that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or 
hire others to labor for them ; but this is only a mixed, and not a 
distinct- class. No princij^le stated is disturbed by the existence of this 
mixed class. 

Again : as has already been said, there is not of necessity any such 
thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. 
Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back 
in their hves, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in 
the world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy 
tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, 
and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just, 
and generous, and prosperous system, wliich opens the way io all, 
gives hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improve- 
ment of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted 
than those who toil up from poverty — none less inchned to take or 
touch aught which tliey have not honestly earned. Let them beware of 
surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if 
suiTcndered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement 
against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, 
till all of liberty shall be lost. 

From the first taking of our national census to the last are seventy 
years ; and wo find our population, at the end of the period, eight times 
as great as it was at the beginning. Tho increase of those other thinga 



DISPOSITION OF CONGRESS. 181 

which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have, at 
one view, what the popular principle, applied to Government through 
the machinery of the States and the Union, has produced in a given 
time ; and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises for the future. 
There are already among us those wJio, if the Union be preserved, will 
live to see it contain two hundred and fifty millions. The struggle of 
to-day is not altogetlier for to-day ; it is for a vast future also. With a 
reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in 
the great task wliicli events have devolved upon us. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

The actual condition of the country and the progress of the 
war, at the opening of the session, are very clearly stated in 
this document; and the principles upon which the President 
had based his conduct of public affairs are set forth with great 
distinctness and precision. On the subject of interfering with 
slavery, the President had adhered strictly to the letter and 
spirit of the act passed by Congress at its extra session ; but 
he very distinctly foresaw that it might become necessary, as 
a means of quelling the rebellion and preserving the Union, to 
resort to a much more vigorous policy than was contemplated 
by that act. While he threw out a timely caution against 
undue haste in the adoption of extreme measures, he promised 
full and careful consideration of any new law which Cono-ress 
might consider it wise and expedient to pass. 

It very soon became evident that Congress was disposed to 
make very considerable advances upon the legislation of the 
extra session. The resistance of the rebels had been more 
vigorous and effective than was anticipated, and the defeat at 
Bull Piun had exasperated, as well as aroused, the public 
mind. The forbearance of the Government in regard to slav- 
ery had not only failed to soften the hostility of the rebels, but 
bad been represented to Europe by the rebel authorities as 
proving a determination on the part of the United States to 
protect and perpetuate slavery by restoring the authority of 
the Constitution which guaranteed its safety ; and the acts of 



182 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

the extra session, especially the Crittenden resolution, defining 
and limiting the objects of the war, were quoted in rebel dis- 
patches to England, for that purpose. It was known also that 
within the lines of the rebel array, slaves were freely employed 
in the construction of fortifications, and that they contributed, 
in this and other ways, very largely to the strength of the in- 
surrection. The whole country, under the iufluence of these 
facts, began to regard slavery as not only the cause of the 
rebellion, but as the main strength of its armies and the 
bond of union for the rebel forces ; — and Congress, represent- 
ing and sharing this feeling, entered promptly and zealously 
upon such measures as it would naturally suggest. Resolu- 
tions at the very outset of the session were ofi'ered, calling on 
the President to emancipate slaves whenever and wherever 
such action would tend to weaken the rebellion ; and the gen- 
eral policy of the Government upon this subject became the 
theme of protracted and animated debate. The orders issued 
by the generals of the army, especially McClellan, Halleck, and 
Dix, by which fugitive slaves were prohibited from coming 
within the army lines, were severely censured. All the res- 
olutions upon these topics were, however, referred to appro- 
priate committees, generally without specific instructions as 
to the character of their action upon them. 

Early in the session a strong disposition was evinced in 
some quarters to censure the Government for its arbitrary 
arrests of persons in the loyal States, suspected of aiding the 
rebels, its suppression of disloyal presses, and other acts which 
it had deemed essential to the safety of the country : and a 
sharp debate took place in the Senate upon a resolution of 
inquiry and implied censure offered by Mr. Trumbull, of 
Illinois. The general feeling, however, was so decidedly in 
favor of sustaining the President, that the resolution was 
referred to the Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 25 to 17. 

On the 19th of DcLcmber, in the Senate, a debate on the 



SLAVERY IN TERRITORIES AND DIST. COLUMBIA. 183 

relation of slavery to the rebellion arose upon a resolution 
oifered by Mr. Willey, of Virginia, who contested the opinion 
that slavery was the cause of the war, and insisted that the 
rebellion had its origin in the hostility of the Southern politi- 
cal leaders to the democratic principle of government ; he 
believed that when the great body of the Southern people 
came to see the real purpose and aim of the rebellion, they 
would withdraw their support, and restore the Union. No 
action was taken on the resolution, which merely gave occa- 
sion for debate, A resolution was adopted in the House, 
forbidding the employment of the army to return fugitive 
slaves to their owners ; and a bill was passed in both Houses, 
declaring that hereafter there shall be " neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude in any of the Territories of the United 
States, now existing, or which may at any time be formed or 
acquired by the United States, otherwise than in the punish- 
ment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed." 

In the Senate, on the 18th of March, a bill was taken up to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; and an amend- 
ment was offered, directing that those thus set free should be 
colonized out of the United States. The policy of coloni- 
zation was fully discussed in connection with the general 
subject, the senators from the Border States opposing the bill 
itself, mainly on grounds of expediency, as calculated to do 
harm under the existing circumstances of the country. The 
bill was passed, with an amendment appropriating money to 
be used by the President in Colonizing such of the emanci- 
pated slaves as might wish to leave the country. It received 
in the Senate 29 votes in its favor and 14 against it. In the 
House it passed by a vote of 92 to 38. 

President Lincoln sent in the following Message, announcing 
his approval of the bill : 



184 PKESIDEXT LIIyTCOLX's ADMINISTEATIOX. 

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: 

The act entitled " An act for the release of certain persons held to 
service or labor in this District of Columbia," has this day been approved 
and signed. 

I have never doubted the constitutional authority of Congress to 
abolish slavery in this District ; and I have ever desired to see the 
national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way. 
Hence there has never be n in my mind any question upon the subject 
except the one of expediency, arising in view of all the circumstances. 
If there be matters within and about this act which might have talien a 
course or shape more satisfactory to my judgment, I do not attempt to 
specify them. 1 am gratified that the two principles of comiiensation 
and colonization are botli recognized and practically applied in the act. 

In the matter of compensation, it is provided that claims may be 
presented within ninety days from the passage of the act, " but not 
thereafter;" and there is no saving for minors, femmes covert, insane, or 
absent persons. I presume this is an omission by mere oversiglit, and 
I recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or supplemental act. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

April 16, 18G2. 

On the 6th of March the President sent to Congress the 
following Message on the subject of aiding such slaveholding 
States as might take measures to emancipate their slaves : 

"Washington, March 6, 1862. 
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate ant) House of Representatives: 

I recommend the adoi'.ion of a joint resolution by your honorable 
body, which shall be, substantially, as follows : 

Resolved, That the United States, in order to co-operate with any 
State which may adopt gradual abolition of slavery, give to such Stato 
pecuniary aid, to bo used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate 
it for the inconvenience, public and private, produced by such change of 
system 

If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet the 
approval of Congress and the country, there is an end of it. But if it 
does command such approval, I deem it of importance that the States 
and people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified 
of the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or 
reject it. 

The Federal Government would find its highest interest in such a 



PROPOSED AID TO EMAXCIPATION BY SLAVE STATES. 185 

measure as one of the most important means of self-preservation. Tho 
leaders of the existing rebellion entertain the hope that this Government 
wiU ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of some part 
of the disaffected region, and that all the Slave States north of such 
part will then say, "The Union for which we have struggled being 
already gone, we now choose to go with tho Southern section." To 
deprive them of this hope substantially ends the rebellion ; and the 
initiation of emancipation deprives them of it, and of all the States 
initiating it. 

The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery would very 
soon, if at all, initiate emancipation ; but while the oflfer is equally made 
to all, the more Northern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to 
the more Southern that in no event wQl the former ever join the latter 
in their proposed Confederacy. I say initiation, because, in my judg- 
ment, gradual and not sudden emancipation is better for all. 

In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress 
with the census or an abstract of the Treasury report before him, can, 
readily see for himself how very soon the current expenditures of this 
war would purchase, at a fair valuation, all the slaves in any named 
State. 

Such a proposition on the part of the General Government sots up no 
claim of a right by the Federal authority to interfere with slavery within 
State limits — referring as it does the absolute control of the subject, in 
each case, to the State and the people immediately mterested. It is 
proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice to them. 

In the annual Message, last December, I thought fit to say " the 
Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be 
employed." I said this, not hastily but deliberately. War has been 
made, and continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A 
practical reacknowledgment of the national authority would render the 
war unnecessary, and it would at once cease. But resistance continues, 
and the war must also continue ; and it is impossible to foresee all the 
incidents which may attend, and all the ruin wliich may follow it. 
Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great 
efiBciency towards ending the struggle, must and will come. 

The proposition now made (though an ofler only) I hope it may be 
esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary consideration tendered 
would not be of more value to the States and private persons concerned 
than would tho institution and property in it, in the present aspect of 
affairs. While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution 



186 rcESiDEXT lixcoln's admixisteatiox. 

would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it 
is recommended in the hope that it would lead to important practical 
results. 

In full view of my great responsibility to my God and my country, 
I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject. 

Abeaham Lincoln. 

This Message indicates very clearly the tendency of the 
President's reflections upon the general relations of slavery to 
the rebellion. He had most earnestly endeavored to arouse 
the people of the Southern States to a contemplation of the 
fact that, if they persisted in their effort to overthrow the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, the fate of slavery would sooner 
or later inevitably be involved in the conflict. The time was 
steadily approaching when, in consequence of their obstinate 
persistence in the rebellion, this result would follow ; and the 
President, with wise forethought, sought anxiously to recon- 
cile the shock which the contest would involve, with the order 
of the country and the permanent prosperity of all classes of 
the people. The general feeling of the country at that time 
was in harmony with this endeavor. The people were still 
disposed to exhaust every means which justice would sanction, 
to withdraw the people of the Southern States from the dis- 
astrous war into which they had been plunged by their lead- 
ers, and they welcomed this suggestion of the President as 
likely to produce that result, if any effort in that direction 
could. 

In pursuance of the recommendation of the Message, Mr. 
R. Conkling, of New York, introduced, in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, on the 10th of March, the following resolution: 

Remlced by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Slates 
in Congress assemblod, That the United States ought to co-operate with 
any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to 
such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to 
compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such 
a change of system. 



THE DEBATE IX CONGRESS. 187 

The debate on this resolution illustrated the feelings of the 
country on the subject. It was vehemently opposed by the 
sympathizers with secession from both sections, as an uncon- 
stitutional interference with slavery, and hesitatingly sup- 
ported by the anti-slavery men of the North, as less decided 
in its hostility than they had a right to expect. The sen- 
timent of the more moderate portion of the community was 
expressed by Mr. Fisher, of Delaware, who regarded it as an 
olive-branch of peace and harmony and good faith presented 
by the North, and as well calculated to bring about a peaceful 
solution and settlement of the slavery question. It was 
adopted in the House by a vote of 89 to 31. Coming up in 
the Senate on the 24th of March, it was denounced in strono^ 
terms by Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, and others — Mr. Davis, 
of Kentucky, opposing the terms in which it was couched, but 
approving its general tenor. It subsequently passed, receiv- 
ing 32 votes in its favor, and but 10 against it. This resolu- 
tion was approved by the President on the 10th of April. It 
was generally regarded by the people and by the President 
himself as rather an experiment than as a fixed policy — as 
intended to test the temper of the people of the Southern 
States, and offer them a way of escape from the evils and 
embarrassments with which slavery had surrounded them, 
rather than set forth a distinct line of conduct which was to 
be pressed upon the country at all hazards. This character, 
indeed, was stamped upon it by the fact that its practical ex- 
ecution was made to depend wholly on the people of the 
Southern States themselves. It recognized their complete 
control over slavery, within their own limits, and simply ten- 
dered them the aid of the General Government in any steps 
they might feel inclined to take to rid themselves of it. 

The President was resolved that the experiment should have 
a full and a fair trial; and while he would not, on the one 
hand, permit its eflfect to be impaired by the natural im- 



188 PEESiDENT Lincoln's administration. 

patience of those among his friends who were warmest and 
most extreme in their hostility to slavery, he, on the other 
hand, lost no opportunity to press the proposition on the 
favorable consideration of the people of the Border Slave States. 

On the 9th of May, General Hunter, who commanded the 
department of South Carolina, which included also the States 
of Georgia and Florida, issued an order declaring all the slaves 
within that department to be thenceforth "forever free." 
This was done not from any alleged military necessity, growing 
out of the operations in his department, but upon a theoreti- 
cal incompatibility between slavery and martial law. The 
President thereupon at once issued the following proclama- 
tion : 

Whereas, There appears in the pubHc prints what purports to be a 
proclamation of Major-Genoral Hunter, in the words and figures 

following : 

Head-Quaeters Departsient or the South, ) 
Hilton Head, S. C, Maij 9, 1863. f 
General Order, No. 11. 

The three States of Geoj-gia, Florida, and South Carolina, comprising 
the Military Department of the South, having deliberately declared 
themselves no longer under the United States of America, and having 
taken up arms agamst the United States, it becomes a military necessity 
to declare them under martial law. 

This was accordingly done on the 25tli day of April, 1863. Slavery and 
martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persons 
in these States — Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina — heretofore held 
as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. 
[Ofeicial.] 

Signed, Davib Hunter, 

Major-General Commanding. 
F.D. W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adj't General. 

And, whereas, the same is producing some excitement and misunder- 
standing, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
proclaim and declare that the Government of the United States had no 
knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of General Hunter to 
issue such proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information tliat 
the document is genuine ; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor 
any other commander or person has been authorized by the Government 
of tlio United States to make proclamation declaring tlie slaves of any 
State free, and that tlie supposed proclamation now in question, whether 
genuine or false, is altogether void so far as respeots such declaration. 



THE PEESIDEXT AND GEXEEAL HUNTER. 189 

I further make known that, whether it be competent for me, as Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any 
State or States free ; and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall 
have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Gov- 
ernment to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under 
my responsibility, I reserve to mj-self, and which I cannot feel justified 
in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. 

These are totally diflferent questions from those of police regulations 
in armies or in camps. 

On the sixth day of Marcli last, by a special Message, I recommended 
to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to be substantially as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the United States oujjht to co-operate with any State 
which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slaveiy, giving to such State 
earnest expression to compensate for its inconveniences, public and 
private, produced by such change of system. 

The resolution in the language above quoted was adopted by large 
majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, 
definite, and solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people 
most interested in the subject matter. To the people of these States 
now, I mostly appeal. I do not argue — I beseech you to make the 
arguments for yourselves. Tou cannot, if ^ou would, be blind to the 
signs of the times. 

I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it 
may be, far above partisan and personal pohtics. 

This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no 
reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it con- 
templates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or 
wrecking any thing. Will you not embrace it ? So much good has not 
been done by one effort in all past time, as in the Providence of God it 
is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to 
lament that you have neglected it. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be hereunto affixed. 

Done at the city of Washmgton this 19th day of May, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the in- 
dependence of the United States the eighty-sixth. 

(Signed) Abraham Lincolx. 

By the President : 

W. H. Sewakd, Secretary of State. 



190 PRESIDE^T Lincoln's ADiII^^ISTRATION. 

This proclamation silenced the clamorous denunciation l«y 
which its enemies had assailed the Administration on the 
strength of General Hunter's order, and renewed the confi- 
dence, which for the moment had been somewhat impaired, in 
the President's adherence to the principles of action he had 
laid down. Nothing practical, however, was done in any of 
the Border States indicating any disposition to act upon his 
suggestions and avail themselves of the aid which Congress had 
offered. The members of Congress from those States had 
taken no steps towards inducing action in regard to it on the 
part of their constituents. Feeling the deepest interest in the 
adoption of some measure which should permanently detach 
the Border Slave States from the rebel Confederacy, and be- 
lieving that the plan he had recommended would tend to 
accomplish that object. President Lincoln sought a conference 
with the members of Congress from those States, and on the 
12th of July, when they waited upon him at the executive 
mansion, he addressed them as follows : 

Gentlemen : After the adjournment of Congress, now near, I shall 
have no opportunity of seeing you for several months. Believmg that 
you of the Border States hold more power for good than any other 
equal number of members, I feel it a duty which I cannot justifiably 
waive to make this appeal to you. 

I intend no reproach or comnlaint when I assure you that, in my 
opinion, if you all had voted for the resolution in the gradual emancipa- 
tion Message of last March the war would now be substantially ended- 
And the plan therein proposed is yet one of the most potent and swift 
means of ending ft. Let the States which are in rebellion see definitely 
and certainly that in no event will the States you represent ever join 
their proposed Confederacy, and they cannot much longer maintain the 
contest. But you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately have 
you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate tho 
institution within your own States. Beat them at elections, as you 
have overwhelmingly done, and, nothing daunted, they still claim you 
as their own. You and I know what the lever of their power is. 
Break that lever before their faces, and they can shake you no more for- 



THE BOEDER STATE EEPEESENTATIVES. 191 

Most of you have treated me with kindness and consideration, and I 
trust you will not now think I improperly touch what is exclusively 
your own, when, for the sake of the whole country, I ask, Can you, for 
your States, do better than to take the course I urge? Discarding 
punctilio and maxims adapted to more manageable times, and looking 
only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do better in 
any possible event ? You prefer that the constitutional relation of the 
States to the nation shall be practically restored without disturbance of 
the institution : and if this were done, my w^hoie duty, in this respect, 
under the Constitution and my oath of office, would be performed. But 
it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by war. The incidents 
of the war cannot be avoided. If the war continues long, as it must if 
the object be not sooner attained, the institution in your States will be 
extinguished by mere friction and abrasion — by the mere incidents of 
the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of 
it. Much of its value is gone already. How much better for you and 
for your people to take the step which at once shortens the war, and 
secures substantial compensation for that which is sure to be wholly 
lost in any other event I How much better to thus save the money 
which else we sink forever in the war ! How much better to do it 
while we can, lest the war ere long render us pecuniarily unable to do 
it ! How much better for you, as seller, and the nation, as buyer, to 
sell out and buy out that without which the war could never have been, 
than to sink both the thing to be sold and the price of it in cutting one 
another's throats I 

I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to 
emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be 
obtained cheaply, and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large 
enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed 
people will not be so reluctant to go. 

I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned — one which threatens 
division among those who, united, are none too strong. An instance of 
it is known to you. General Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I 
hope still is, ray friend. I valued him none the less for his agreeing 
with me in the general wish that all men everywhere could be free. He 
proclaimed all men free within certain States, and I repudiated the proc- 
lamation. He expected more good and less harm from the measure 
than I could believe would follow. Yet, in repudiating it, I gave dissat- 
isfaction, if not offence, to many whose support the /country cannot 
afford to lose. And this is not the end of it. The pressure in this 



192 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

direction is still upon me, and is increasing. By conceding what I now 
ask you can relieve me, and, much more, can relieve the country in this 
important point. 

Upon these considerations I have again begged your attention to the 
Message of March last. Before leaving the Capitol, consider and discuss 
it among yourselves. You are patriots and statesmen, and as such I 
pray you consider this proposition ; and at the least commend it to the 
consideration of your States and people. As you would perpetuate 
popular government for the best people in the world, I beseech you that 
you do in nowise omit this. Our common country is in great peril, de- 
manding the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a speedy reUef. 
Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world ; its beloved 
Mstory and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future 
fully assured and rendered inconceivably grand. To you, more than to 
anj- others, the privilege is given to assure that happiness and swell 
that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever. 

The members to whom the President thus appealed were 
divided in opinion as to the merits of the proposition which 
he had laid before them. A majority of them submitted an 
elaborate reply, in which they dissented from the President's 
opinion that the adoption of this policy would terminate the 
war or serve the Union cause. They held it to be his duty 
to avoid all interference, direct or indirect, with slavery in the 
Southern States, and attributed much of the stubborn hoi^tility 
which the South had shown in prosecuting the war, to the fact 
that Congress had departed in various instances from the 
spirit and objects for which the war ought to be prosecuted by 
the Government. A minority of those members, not being 
able to concur in this reply, submitted one of their own, in 
which they thus set forth their view of the motives of the 
President in the course he had adopted, and expressed their 
substantial concurrence in its justice and wisdom : 

We beUeve that the whole power of the Government, upheld and 
sustained by all the influences and means of all loyal men in all 
sections and of all parties, is essentially necessary to put down the 
rebellion and preserve the Union and tlie Constitution. We understand 



THE BOEDER STATE KEPLY. 193 

your appeal to us to have been made for the purpose of securing thia 
result. A very large portion of the people in the Northern States 
believe that slavery is the "lever power of the rebellion." It matters 
not whether this opinion is well-founded or not. The belief does exist, 
and we have to deal with things as they are, and not as we would have 
them be. In consequence of the existence of this beHef, we understand 
that an immense pressure is brought to bear for the purpose of striking 
down this institution through the exercise of military authority. The 
Government cannot maintain this great struggle if the support and in- 
fluence of the men who entertain these opinions be withdrawn. Neither 
can the Government hope for early success if the support of that element 
called " conservative" be withdrawn. 

Such being the condition of things, the President appeals to the 
Border State men to step forward and prove their patriotism by making 
the first sacrifice. No doubt, like appeals have been made to extreme 
men in the North to meet us half way, in order that the whole moral, 
political, pecuniary, and physical force of the nation may be firmly and 
earnestly united in one grand effort to save the Union and the Con- 
stitution. 

Believing that such were the motives that prompted your address, 
and such the results to which it looked, we cannot reconcile it to our 
sense of duty, in this trying hour, to respond in a spirit of fault-finding 
or querulousness over the things that are past. We are not disposed 
to seek for tlie cause of present misfortunes in the errors and wrongs 
of others who propose to unite with us in a common purpose. But, on 
the other band, we meet your address in the spirit in which it was 
made, and, as loyal Americans, declare to you and to the world, that 
there is no sacrifice that we are not ready to make to save the Govern- 
ment and institutions of our fathers. That we, few of us though there 
may be, will permit no men, from the North or^from the South, to go 
further than we in the accomplishment of the great work before lis. 
That, in order to carry out these views, we will, so far as may be in 
our power, ask the people of the Border States calmly, deliberately, 
and fairly to consider your recommendations. We are the more em- 
boldened to assume this position from the fact now become history, 
that the leaders of the Southern rebeUion have offered to abolish slavery 
amongst them as a condition to foreign intervention in favor of their 
independence as a nation. 

1 1' they can give up slavery to destroy the Union, we can surely ask 
our people to consider the question of emancipation to save the Union. 



194 rKE?:ii)ENT lixcol>;'s administeatio:n-. 

Hon. Ilorace Maynard, of Tennessee, on the 16tli of Jii]y 
submitted to the President his views of the question, in which 
he thus set forth his appreciation of the motives which had 
induced him to make the proposition in question to the South- 
ern States : 

Tour whole administration gives the highest assurance that vou 
are moved, not so much from a desire to see all men everywhere made 
free, as from a desire to preserve free institutions for the benefit of 
men already free ; not to make slaves free men, but to prevent free men 
from being made slaves ; not to destroy an institution wliich a portion 
of us only consider bad, but to save an institution which we all alike 
consider good. I am satisfied that you would not ask from any of your 
fellow-citizens a sacrifice not in your judgment imperatively required 
by the safety of the country. This is the spirit of your appeal, and I 
respond to it in the same spirit. 

Determined to leave undone nothing which it was in his 
power to do to effect the object he had so much at heart, the 
President on the 12th of July sent into Congress a Message 
transmitting the draft of a bill upon the subject, as follows: 

Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and House of Beprcsentatires : — Herewith 
is the draft of the bill to compensate any State which may abolish 
slavery within its limits, the passage of which, substantially as presented, 
I resijectfully and earnestly recommend. 

Abraham Lixcolx. 

Beit enacted by the Senate and Ilonae of licprescntativcs of the United 
States of America in Congress asxonblcd : — That whenever the President of 
the United States shall be satisfied that any State shall have lawfully 
abolished slavery within and throughout such State, either immediately 
or t^radually, it shall be the duty of the President, assisted by the Secre- 
tary of the" Treasury, to prepare and deliver to each State an amount of 
Bi.x per cent, interest-bearing bonds of the United States, equal to the ag- 
gregate value at — dollars per head of all the slaves within such State as 
reported by the census of 18(50 ; the whole amount for any one State tt> be 
delivered at once, if the abolishment be innnediate, or in equal annual 
installments, if it be gradual, interest to begin running on each bond at 
the time of delivery, and not before. 

And be it further enacted. That if any State, having so received any such 
bonds, shall at anytime afterwards by law reintroduce or tolerate slavery 
within its limits, contrary to the aet Of abolisliment upon wliich sueh 
bonds shall liave been received, said boiuls so received by said State shall 
at once be null and void, in whosesoever hands they may be, and such 
State shall refund to the United States all interest which may have been 
paid on such bonds. 



THE FINA^'CES. 195 

The bill was referred to a Committee, but no action was 
taken upon it in Congress, nor did any of the Border States 
respond to the President's invitation. The proposition, how- 
ever, served a most excellent purpose in testing the sentiment 
of both sections of the country, and in preparing the way for 
the more vigorous treatment of the subject of slavery which 
the blind and stubborn prejudices of the slaveholding com- 
munities were rapidly rendering inevitable. 

Two other subjects of importance engaged the attention 
and received the action of Congress during this session ; the 
provision of a currency, and the amendment of the law to con- 
fiscate the property of rebels. A bill authorizing the issue of 
Treasury notes to the amount of $150,000,000, and making 
them a legal tender in all business transactions, was reported 
in the House by the Finance Committee, of which Hon. E. G. 
Spaulding, of New York, was Chairman, and taken up for 
discussion on the 11 ih of June. It was advocated mainly on 
the score of necessitj', and was opposed on the ground of 
its alleged unconstitutionality. The division of sentiment on 
the subject was not a party one, some of the warmest friends 
and supporters of the administration doubting whether Con- 
gress had the power to make any thing but silver and gold a 
legal tender in the payment of debts. The same bill provided 
for a direct tax, involving stamp duties, taxes upon incomes, 
etc., sufficient with the duties upon imports to raise $150,000,- 
000 per annum, and also for the establishment of a system of 
free banking by which bank notes to be circulated as currency 
might be issued upon the basis of stocks of the United States 
deposited as security. The bill was discussed at length, and 
was finally adopted by a vote 93 to 59. In the Senate it en- 
countered a similar opposition, but passed by a vote of 30 to 7, 
a motion to strike out the legal tender clause having been 
previously rejected, 17 voting in favor of striking it out, and 22 
against it. 



196 TKESIDEXT LIXCOLX's ADMIXISTKATIOX. 

Tlic subject of confiscating the property of rebels excited 
still deeper interest. A bill for tliat purpose was taken up in 
the Senate, on the 25th of February, for discussion. By one 
of its sections all the slaves of any person, anywheie in the 
United States, aiding the Febellion, were declared to be forever 
free, and subsequent sections provided for colonizing slaves 
thus enfranchised. The bill was advocated on the ground that 
iu no other way could the property of rebels, in those States 
where the judicial authority of the United States had been over- 
borne, be reached ; while it was opposed on the ground that it was 
unconstitutional, and that it would tend to render the Southern 
people still more united and desperate in their rebellion. Bv 
the confiscation act of the previous session, a slave who had 
been employed in aiding the rebellion was declared to be free, 
but the fact that he had been thus employed must be shown bv 
due judicial process; by this bill all the slaves of any person 
who had been thus engaged were set free without the interven- 
tion of any judicial process whatever. Tliis feature of the bill 
was warmly opposed by some of the ablest and most reliable 
of the supporters of the Administration as a departure from all 
recognized rules of. proceeding, and as a direct interference 
with slavery in the States, in violation of the most solemn 
pledge of the Government, the Republican party, and indi- 
vidual supporters of the Administration. Senator CoUamer, 
of Vermont, urged this view of the case with great cogency, 
citing Mr. Sumner's opinion expressed on the 25th of Febru- 
ary, 1861, when, on presenting a memorial to the Senate in 
favor of abolishing slavery, he had added : " In offering it, I 
take this occasion to declare most explicitly that I do not 
think that Congress has any right to interfere with slavery in 
a State;" and quoting also Senator Fessenden's declaration in 
the debate on abolishing slavery in the District of Columbiji, 
when he said : " I have hekl, and I hold to-day, and I say 
to-day what I have said in my place before, that the Congress 



THE CONFISCATION BILL. 197 

of the United States, or the people of the United Stato's 
through the Congress, under the Constitution as it now ex- 
ists, have no right whatever to touch by legislation the insti- 
tution of slavery in the States vi'here it exists by law." Mr. 
Sherman's opinion, expressed in the same debate, that " we 
ought religiously to adhere to the promises we made to the 
people of this country when Mr, Lincoln was elected Presi- 
dent — we ought to abstain religiously from all interference 
with the domestic institutions of the Slave or the Free States," 
was also quoted, and Mr. Collaraer said he' did not see how it 
was possible to pass the bill in its present form without giving 
the world to understand that they had violated those pledges, 
and had interfered with slavery in the States. Mr. Collamcr 
accordingly offered an amendment to the bill, obviating the 
objections he had urged against it; and this, with other 
amendments offered by other Senators, was referred to a Select 
Committee, which subsequently reported a bill designed, as 
the Chairman, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, explained, to 
harmonize the various shades of opinion upon the subject, and 
secure the passage of some measure which should meet the 
expectations of the country and the emergency of the case. 
The first section of this bill provided, that every person who 
should hereafter commit the crime of treason against the 
United States, and he adjudged guilty thereof, should suffer 
death, and all his slaves, if any, be declared and made free ; 
or he should he imprisoned not less than five years, and fined 
not less than ten thousand dollars, and all his slaves, if any, 
be declared and made free. 

The distinctive feature of this section, as distinguished from 
the corresponding section of the original bill, consisted in the 
fact that a trial and conviction were required before any per- 
son guilty of treason could be punished, either by death, im- 
prisonment, or the forfeiture of his property. It was opposed 
on the one hand, by Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, on the ground 



198 rKESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADMINISTEATIOX. 

that it " made treason easy" — and on the other, by Mr. Davis, 
of Kentucky, because it set slaves free. Mr. Sumner ofiFered 
a substitute to the whole bill, which in his judgment did not 
go far enough in giving the country the advantage of the 
" opportunity which God, in his beneficence, had aftbrded" it 
for securing universal emancipation. Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, 
moved to strike out the eleventh section, which authorized the 
President to " employ as many persons of African descent as 
he might deem necessary and proper for the suppression of 
the rebellion, and to organize and use them in such manner as 
he might judge best for the public welfare," — but his motion 
was rejected by a vote of 11 to 25. V/hile the bill was thus 
denounced by one class of Senators as too violent in its 
method of dealing with the rebels, it was resisted with still 
greater vehemence by another class as entirely defective in 
that respect. Mr. Sumner was especially severe in his cen- 
sure of Senators who proposed, he said, " when the life of 
our Republic is struck at, to proceed as if by an indictment 
in a criminal court." His remarks gave rise to considerable 
personal discussion — which was interrupted by the receipt 
of a similar bill which had been passed by the House of Rep- 
resentatives, and which was decidedly more in harmony with 
the extreme views of Mr. Sumner and his friends, than the 
Senate bill. It assumed that the rebels were to be treated 
like a foreign enemy, without regard to the limitations ajid 
requirements of the Constitution, and that Congress, instead 
of the President, had the supreme and exclusive control of 
the operations of the war. This bill on coming before the 
Senate was set asi<le, and the bill which had been reported by 
the Senate Committee substituted in its place, by a vote of 
21 to IV, and the latter was finally passed; ayes 28, noes 
13. The House did not concur in this amendment to its own 
bill; but on receiving the report of a Committee of Confer- 
ence which made some amendments to the Senate bill, it was 



THE NEW COJfFISCATION BILL. 199 

passed, as amended, by both llouses and sent to the President 
for bis signature. 

Tbe provisions of tbis bill were as follows: 

Section 1 enacted that every person who should after its passage 
commit the crime of treason against the United States, and be adjudged 
guilty thereof, should suffer death, and all Ids slaves, if any, should be 
declared and made free ; or he should be imprisoned for not less than 
five years, and fined not less than $10,000, and all his slaves made free. 

Section 2 declared that if any person shall hereafter incite, assist, 
or engage in any rebellion against the authority of the United States 
or the laws thereof, or give aid or comfort thereto, or to any existmg 
rebellion, and be convicted thereof, he shall be imprisoned for ten years 
or less, fined not more than $10,000, and all his slaves shall be set free. 

Section 3. Every person guilty of these offences shall be forever 
disqualified to hold any office under the United States. 

Section 4. This act was not to affect the prosecution, conviction, or 
punishment of any person guilty of treason before the passage of the 
act, unless convicted under it. 

Section 5 made it the duty of the President to seize and apply to the 
use of the army of the United States, aU the property of persons who 
had served as officers of the rebel army, or had held certain civil offices 
under the rebel Government, or in the rebel States, provided they had 
taken an oath of allegiance to the rebel authorities, and also of persons 
who, having property in any of the loyal States, shall hereafter give aid 
to the rebellion. 

Section 6 prescribed that if any other persons being engaged in the 
rebellion should not, within sixty days after public proclamation duly 
made by the President, cease to aid the rebelhon, all their property 
should be confiscated in the same manner. 

Section 7 directed that proceedings in rem should be instituted 
in the name of the United States in the court of the district within which 
such property might be found, and if said property, whether real or per- 
sonal, should be found to belong to any person engaged in rebellion, it 
should be condemned as enemies' property, and become the property of 
tlie United States. 

Section 8 gave the several District Courts of the United States au- 
thority and power to make such orders as these proceedings migiit re- 
quire. 

Section 9 enacted that all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be 



200 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or 
■who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such 
persons, and taking refuge within tlie lines of the army, and all slaves 
captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the 
control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such 
persons found, or being within any place occupied by rebel forces, and 
afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed 
captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not 
again held as slaves. 

Section 10 enacted that no slave escaping into another State should 
be delivered up, unless the claimant should make oath that the owner 
or master of such slave had never borne arras against the United States, 
or given any aid and comfort to the rebellion ; and every person in the 
military service of the United States was prohibited from deciding on 
the validity of any claim to the services of any escaped slave, on pain of 
dismissal. 

Section 1 1 authorized the President to employ as many persons of 
African descent as he might deem necessary and proper for the suppres- 
sion of the rebellion, and to organize and use them as he might deem 
best for the public welfare. 

Section' 12 authorized the President to make provision for tlie col- 
onization, with their own consent, of persons freed under this act, to 
some country beyond the limits of the United States, having first ob- 
tained the consent of the Government of said country to their protection 
and settlement, with all the privileges of free men. 

Section 13 authorized the President at any time hereafter, by proc- 
lamation, to extend to persona who may have participated in this Re- 
bellion, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such time, and 
on such conditions as he might deem expedient for the public welfare. 

Section 14 gave the Courts of the United States authority to insti- 
tute such proceedings, and issue such orders as might be necessary to 
carry this act into effect. 

It soon came to be understood that the President Lad ob- 
jections to certain portions of the bill which would probably 
prevent hiin from signing it, A joint resolution was at once 
passed in the House, providing that the bill should be so con- 
strued "as not to apply to any acts done prior to its passage; 
nor to include any member of a State legislature, or judge of 



THE PRESIDEIfT's ACTION AXD OPIXIONS. 201 

any State court who has Bot, in accepting or entering upon 
his office, taken an oath to support the constitution of the so- 
called Confederate States of America." When this reached 
the Senate, Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, ofiered the follow 
ing, to be added to the resolution: 

Xor shall any punishment or proceedings under said act be so con- 
strued as to work a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond 
his natural life. 

This provision encountered a sharp opposition, Mr. Trum- 
bull, of Illinois, insisting that the forfeiture of real estate for 
life only would amount to nothing, and other Senators object- 
ing to being influenced in their action by the supposed opin- 
ions of the President. Mr. Clark also proposed another amend- 
ment, authorizing the President, in gi-anting an amnesty, to 
restore to the offender any property wliich might have been 
seized and condemned under this act. The resolutions and 
amendments were passed by the Senate, and received the 
concurrence of the House. On the lYth of July Presi- 
dent Lincoln sent in the following message, announcing that 
he had signed the bill, and specifying his objections to the 
act in its original shape : 

Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and Rouse of Representatives : 

Considering the bill for " An act to suppress insurrection, to punish 
treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and 
for otlier purposes," and tlie joint resolution explanatory of said act 
as being substantially one, I have approved and signed botli. 

Before I was informed of the resolution, I had prepared the draft of 
a message, stating objections to the bill becoming a law, a copy of which 
draft is herewith submitted. Abraham Lincoln. 

Jidy 12, 1862. 

[Copy.] 
Fellow- Citizens of the Rouse of Representatives : 

I herewith return to the honorable body, in which it originated, the 
bOl for an act entitled " An act to suppress treason and rebellion, to 



202 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION". 

seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," 
together with my objections to its becoming a law. 

Their is much in the bill to which I perceive no objection. It is 
wholly prospective ; and it touches neither person nor property of any 
loyal citizen, in which particular it is just and proper. 

The first and second sections provide for the conviction and punish- 
ment of persons who shall be guilty of treason, and persons who shall 
" incite, set on foot, assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection 
against the authority of the United States, or the laws thereof, or shall 
give aid or comfort thereto, or shall engage in or give aid and comrort 
to any such existing rebellion or insurrection." By fair construction, 
persons within those sections are not punished without regular trials 
in duly constituted courts, under the forms and all the substantial pro- 
visions of law and the Constitution apphcable to their several cases. 
To this I perceive no objection ; especially as such persons would bo 
within the general pardoning power, and also the special provision for 
pardon and amnesty contained in this act. 

It is also provided that the slaves of persons convicted under these 
sections shall be free. I tliink there is an unfortunate form of expres- 
sion, rather than a substantial objection, in this. It is startling to say 
that Congress can free a slave within a State, and yet if it were said the 
ownership of a slave had first been transferred to the nation, and Con- 
gress had then liberated him, the difficulty would at once vanish. And 
this is the real case. The traitor against the General Government for- 
feits his slave at least as justly as he does an-^ other property ; and ho 
forfeits both to the Government against which he ofiends. The Gov- 
ernment, so far as there can be ownership, thus owns the forfeited 
slaves, and the question for Congress in regard to them is, " Shall they 
be made free or sold to new masters ?" I perceive no objection to 
Congress deciding in advance that they shall be free. To the high 
honor of Kentucky, as I am informed, she is the owner of some .slaves 
by escheat, and has sold none, but liberated all. I hope the same is true 
of some other States. Indeed, I do not believe it wOl be physically 
possible for the General Government to return persons so circumstanced 
to actual slavery. I believe there would be physical resistance to it, 
which could neither be turned aside by argument nor driven away by 
force. In this view I have no objection to this feature of the biU. 
Another matter involved in these two sections, and running through 
other parts of the act, will be noticed hereafter. 

I perceive no objections to the third or fourth sections. 



THE president's MESSAGE. 203' 

So far as I wish to notice the fifth and sixth sections, they may be 
considered together. That tlie enforcement of these sections would do 
no injustice to the persons embraced within them is clear. That those 
who make a causeless war should be compelled to pay the cost of it is 
too obviously just to be called in question. To give governmental pro- 
tection to the property of persons who have abandoned it, and gone on 
a crusade to overthrow the same Government, is absurd, if considered 
in the mere light of justice. The severest justice may not always be 
the best policy. The principle of seizing and appropriating the prop- 
ert}^ of the person embraced within these sections is certainly not very 
objectionable, but a justly discriminating application of it would be very 
difficult, and, to a great extent, impossible. And would it not be wise 
to place a power of remission somewhere, so that these persons may 
know they have something to lose by persisting and something to gain 
by desisting? I am not sure whether such power of remission is or 
is not in section thirteen. Without any special act of Congress, I think 
our military commanders, when, in mihtary phrase, " they are within 
the enemy's country," should, in an orderly manner, seize and use 
whatever of real or personal property may be necessary or convenient 
for their commands; at the same time preserving, in some way, tlie 
evidence of what they do. 

"What I have said in regard to slaves, while commenting on the first 
and second sections, is applicable to the ninth, with the difference that 
no provision is made in the whole act for determining whether a partic- 
ular individual slave does or does not fall within the classes defined in 
that section. He is to be free upon certain conditions ; but whether 
those conditions do or do not pertain to him, no mode of ascertaining 
is provided. This could be easily supplied. 

To the tenth section I make no objection. The oath therein required 
seems to be proper, and the remainder of the section is substantially 
identical with a law already existing. 

The eleventh section simply assumes to confer discretionary power 
upon the Executive. Without the law, I have no hesitation to go as far 
in the direction indicated as I may at any time deem expedient. And I 
am ready to say now, I think it is proper for our mOitary commanders 
to employ, as laborers, as many persons of African descent as can be 
used to advantage. 

The twelfth and thirteenth sections are something better than unob- 
jectionable ; and the fourteenth is entirely proper, if aU other parts of 
the Act shall stand. 



204 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

That to which I chiefly object pervades most part of the Act, but 
more distinctly appears in tlie first, second, seventh, and eighth sec- 
tions. It is the sum of those provisions which results in the divestin<j 
of title forever. 

For the causes of treason and ingredients of treason, not amounting 
to the full crime, it declares forfeiture extending beyond the lives of tho 
guilty parties ; whereas the Constitution of the United States declares 
that " no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture 
except during the hfe of the person attainted." True, there is to be no 
formal attainder in this case ; still, I think, the greater punishment 
cannot be constitutionally inflicted, in a diflerent form, for the same 
ofience. 

With great respect I am constrained to say I think this feature of 
the Act is unconstitutional. It would not be difficult to modify it. 

I may remark that the provision of the Constitution, put in language 
borrowed from Great Britain, applies only in this country, as I under- 
stand, to real or landed estate. 

Again, this Act, in rem, forfeits property for the ingredients of treason 
without a conviction of the supposed criminal, or a personal hearing 
given him in any proceeding. That we may not touch property lying 
within our reach, because we cannot give personal notice to an owner 
who is absent endeavoring to destroy the Government, is certainly sat- 
isfactory. Still, the owner may not be thus engaged; and I think a 
rca?;onable time should be provided for such parties to appear and have 
personal hearings. Similar provisions are not uncommon in connection 
v.-ith proceedings in rem. 

For the reasons stated, I return the BiU to the House in which it ori- 
ginated. 

The passage of this bill coustituted a very important step 
in the prosecution of the war for the suppression of the Re- 
bellion. It prescribed definite penalties for the crime of 
treason, and thus supplied a defect in the laws as they then 
existed. It gave the rebels distinctly to understand that one 
of these penalties, if they persisted in their resistance to the 
authority of the United States, would be the emancipation of 
their slaves. And it also authorized the employment by the 
President of persons of African descent, to aid in the sup- 
pression of the Rebellion in any way which he might deem 



MESSAGE IN REGARD TO MR. CAMERON. 205 

most conducive to the public welfare. Yet througliout the 
bill, it was clearly made evident that the object and purpose 
of these measures was not the abolition of slavery, but the 
preservation of the Union and the restoration of the authority 
of the Constitution. 

On the 14th of January Simon Cameron resigned his posi- 
tion as Secretary of War. On the 30th of April the House 
of Representatives passed, by a vote of 75 to 45, a resolution, 
censuring certain official acts performed by him while acting 
as Secretary of War; whereupon, on the 27th of May, Presi- 
dent Lincoln transmitted to the House the following message : 

To THE Senate and House of Representatives: 

The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States, and aims 
at the overthrow of the Federal Constitution and tlie Union, was clan- 
destinely prepared during thd winter of 1860 and 1861, and assumed 
ail open organization in the form of a treasonable provisional govern- 
ment at Montgomery, Alabama, on the eighteenth day of February, 1861. 
On the twelfth day of April, 1861, the insurgents committed the fla- 
grant act of civil war by the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, 
which cut oflf the hope of immediate conciliation. Immediately after- 
wards all the roads and avenues to this city were obstructed, and the 
capital was put into the condition of a siege. Tlie mails in every direc- 
tion were stopped and the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents, 
and military and naval forces which had been called out by the Govern- 
ment for the defence of Washington were prevented from reaching tlie 
city by organized and combined treasonable resistance in the State of 
Maryland. There was no adequate and effective organization for the 
public defence. Congress had indefinitely adjourned. There was no 
time to convene them. It became necessary for me to choose whether, 
using only the existing means, agencies, and processes which Congress 
had provided, I should let the government fall into ruin, or whether, 
availing myself of the broader powers conferred by the Constitution in 
cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it, with all its 
blessings, for the present age and for posterity. I thereupon summoned 
my constitutional advisers, the heads of all the departments, to meet on 
Sunday, the twentieth day of April, 18G1, at the office of the Xavy 
Department, and then and there, with their unanimous conciirrence. I 



206 PRESIDENT LIXCOLK's ADMimSTEATION. 

directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea to afford 
protection to the commercial marine, especially to the California treasure- 
ships, then on their way to this coast. I also directed the Commandant 
of the Navy Yard at Boston to purchase or charter, and arm, as quickly 
as possible, five steamships for purposes of public defence. I directed 
the Commandant of the Navy Yard at Philadelphia to purchase or char- 
ter, and arm an equal number for the same purpose. I directed the 
Commandant at New York to purchase or charter, and arm an equal 
number. I directed Commander Qillis to purcliase or charter, and arm 
and put to sea two other vessels. Similar directions were given to 
Commodore Du Pont, with a view to the opening of passages by water to 
and from the capital. I directed the several oflBcers to take the advice 
and obtain the aid and efficient services in the matter of his E.xcellency 
Edwin D. Morgan, the Governor of New York, or, in his absence, 
George D. Morgan, Wm. M. Evarts, R. M. Blatchford, and Moses H. 
Griunell, who were, by my directions, esi)eciaUy empowered by the Sec- 
retary of the Navy to act for his department in that crisis, in matters 
pertaining to the forwarding of troops and supplies for the pubhc de- 
fence. On the same occasion I directed that Gov. Morgan and Alex- 
ander Cnmmings, of the city of New York, should be authorized by the 
Secretary of "War, Simon Cameron, to make all necessary arrangements 
for the transportation of troops and munitions of war in aid and assist- 
ance of the officers of the army of the United States, until communica- 
tion by mails and telegraph should be completely re-established between 
the cities of Washington and New York. No security was required to 
be given by them, and either of them was authorized to act in case of 
inability to consult with the other. On the same occasion I authorized 
and directed the Secretary of the Treasury to advance, without requir- 
ing securing, two millions of dollars of public money to John A. Di.x, 
George Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford, of New York, to be used 
by them in meeting such requisitions as should be directly consequent 
upon the military and naval measures for the defence and support of 
the Government, requiring them only to act without compensation, and 
to report their transactions when duly called upon. The several de- 
partments of the Government at that time contained so large a number 
of disloyal persons that it would have been impossible to provide safely 
through official agents only, for the performance of the duties thus con- 
fided to citizens favorably known for their ability, loyalty, and patriot- 
ism. The several orders issued upon these occurrences were trans- 
mitted by private mess,3ngers, who pursued a circuitous way to the 



THE PEESIDENT AND HIS CABINET. 207 

seaboard cities, inland across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and 
the northern lakes. I believe that by these and other similar meas- 
ures taken in that crisis, some of which were without any authority of 
law, the Government was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that 
a dollar of the public funds thus confided without authority of law, to 
unofficial persons, was either lost or wasted, although apprehensions 
of such misdirections occurred to me as objections to these extraordi- 
nary proceediugs, and were necessarily overruled. I recall these trans- 
actions now because my attention has been directed to a resolution 
which was passed by the House of Representatives on the thirtieth of 
last month, which is in these words : 

Resolved, that Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, by intrusting 
Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of the public 
money, and authority to purchase military supphes without restriction, 
without requiring from him any guarantee for the faithful perrormanee 
of his duties, while the services of competent public officers were avail- 
able, and by involving the government in a vast number of contracts 
Avith persons not legitimately engaged in the business pertaining to the 
subject matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arms for 
future delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the pubUc ser- 
vice, and deserves the censure of the House. 

Congress will see that I should be wanting in candor and in justice 
if I should leave the censure expressed in this resolution to rest exclu- 
sively Qr chiefly upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is unani- 
mously entertained by the heads of the departments, who participated 
in the proceedings which the House of Representatives has censured. 
It is due to Mr. Cameron to say that although he fully approved the 
proceedings, they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that 
not only the President, but all the other heads of departments were at 
least equally responsible with him for whatever error, wrong or fault 
was committed in the premises. Abraham Lincoln. 

This letter was iu strict conformity with the position uni- 
formly held by the President in regard to the responsibility 
of members of his cabinet for acts of the Administration. He 
always maintained that the proper duty of each Secretary 
was, to direct the details of every thing done within his own 
department, and to tender such suggestions, information, and 
advice to the President as he might soliciFat his hands. But 
the duty and responsibility of deciding what line of policy 



208 PRESIDENT LI:N"COLn's ADiII>{ISTEATIOX. 

slioulJ be pursued, or wLat steps should be taken in any 
specific case, in his judgment, belonged exclusively to tlie 
President; and he was always willing and ready to assume it. 
This position has been widely and sharply assailed in various 
quarters as contrary to the precedents of our early history : 
but we believe it to be substantially in accordance with the 
theory of the Constitution upon this subject. 

The progress of our armies in certain portions of the South- 
ern States had warranted the suspension, at several ports, of 
the restrictions placed upon commerce by the blockade. On 
the 12th of May the President accordingly issued a proclama- 
tion declaring that the blockade of the ports of Beaufort, Port 
Royal, and New Orleans, should so far cease from the 1st of 
June, that commercial intercourse from those ports, except as 
to contraband of war, might be resumed, subject to the laws 
of the United States and the regulations of the Treasury De- 
partment. 

On the 1st of July he issued anotlier proclamation, in pur- 
suance of the law of June Tth, designating the States and 
parts of States that were then in insurrection, so that the laws 
of tlie United States concerning the collection of taxes could 
not be enforced within their limits, and declaring that " the 
taxes legally chargeable upon real estate, under the act re- 
ferred to, lying within the States or parts of States thus desig- 
nated, together with a penalty of fifty per cent, of said taxes, 
should be a lien upon the tracts or lots of the same, severally 
charged, till paid." 

On the 20th of October, finding it absolutely necessary to 
provide judicial proceedings for the State of Louisiana, a part 
c f which was in our military possession, the President issued 
an order establishing a Provisional Court in the City of New 
Orleans, of which Charles A. Peabody was made Judge, with 
authority to trv all causes, civil anil criujinal, in law, equity, 
revenue, and admiralty, and particularly to exercise all such 



CLOSE OF THE SESSION OF CONGRESS. 209 

power and jurisdiction as belongs to the Circuit and District 
Courts of the United States. His proceedings were to be 
conformed, so far as possible, to the course of proceedings 
and practice usual in the Courts of the United States of 
Louisiana, and his judgment was to be final and conclusive. 

Congress adjourned on the lYth of July, having adopted 
many measures of marked though minor importance, besides 
those to which we have referred, to aid in the prosecution of 
the war. Several Senators were expelled for adherence, direct 
or indirect, to the rebel cause; measures were taken to remove 
from the several departments of the Government employes 
more or less openly in sympathy with secession ; Hayti and 
Liberia were recognized as independent republics; a treaty 
was negotiated and ratified with Great Britain which conceded 
the right, within certain limits, of searching suspected slavers 
carrying the American flag, and the most libei-al grants in 
men and money were made to the Government for the pros- 
ecution of the war. The President had appointed military 
Governors for several of the Border States, where public 
sentiment was divided, enjoining them to protect the loyal 
citizens and to regard them as alone entitled to a voice in the 
direction of civil affairs. 

Public sentiment throughout the loyal States sustained the 
action of Congress and the President as adapted to the emer- 
gency and well calculated to aid in the suppression of the re- 
bellion. At the same time it was very evident that the con- 
viction was rapidly gaining ground that Slavery was the cause 
of the Rebellion; that the paramount object of the conspira- 
tors against the Union was to obtain new guaranties for the 
institution; and that it was this interest alone which gave 
unity and vigor to the rebel cause. A very active and influ- 
ential party at the North had insisted from the outset that the 
most direct way of crushing the Rebellion was by crushing 
Slavery, and they had urged upon the President the adoption 



210 TEESIDEXT LLXCOLn's ADMINISTEATIOSr. 

of a policy of immediate and unconditional emancipation, as 
tlie only tiling necessary to bring into the ranks of the Union 
armies hundreds of thousands of enfranchised slaves, as well 
as the great mass of the people of the Northern States who 
needed this stimulus of an appeal to their moral sentiment. 
After the adjournment of Congress these demands became still 
more clamorous and importunate. The President was sum- 
moned to avail himself of the opportunity offered by the pas- 
sage of the Confiscation Bill, and to decree the instant libera- 
tion of every slave belonging to a rebel master. These de- 
mands soon assumed, with the more impatient and intemper- 
ate portion of the friends of the Administration, a tone of 
complaint and condemnation, and the President was charged 
with gross and culpable remissness in the discharge of duties 
imposed upon him by the Act of Congress. They were em- 
bodied with force and effect in a letter addressed to the Pres- 
ident by Hon. Horace Greeley, and published in the JV. V. 
Tribune of the 1 9th of August, to which President Lincoln- 
made the following reply : 

Executive Mansion, "Washington, Aug. 22, 1862. 
IION. Horace Greeley: 

Dear Sir — I have just read yours of the 19th instant, addressed to 
myself through the New York Tribune. 

If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may 
know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. 

If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, 
I do not now and here argue against them. 

If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive 
it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to 
be riglit. 

As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not 
meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would 
save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. 

The sooner the national authority can be restored the nearer the 
Union will be — the Uruon as it was. 



THE PEESIDENt's LETTEK TO ME. GEEELET. 211 

If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at 
the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. 

If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at 
the same time destroy slaverj^, I do not agree with them. 

My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or de-nroy 
slai-cry. 

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it — 
if I could save it by freeing aU the slaves, I would do it — and if I 
could do it by freeiug some and leaving others alone, I would also do 
that. 

What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe 
it helps to save this Union, and what I forbear, I forbear because I do 
not believe it would help to save the Union. 

I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the 
cause, and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the 
cause. 

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shaU 
adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. 

I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, 
and I intend no modification of my oft-exjjressed personal wish that all 
men everywhere could be free. 

Tours, 

A. LixcOLX. 

It was impossible to mistake tlie President's meaning after 
this letter, or to have any donbt as to the policy by which he 
e.xpected to re-establish the anthority of the Constitution over 
the whole territory of the United States. His " paramount 
object," in every thing he did and in every thing he abstained 
from doing, was to "save the Union." He regarded all the 
power conferred on him by Congress in regard to slavery, as 
having been conferred to aid him in the accomplishment of 
that object — and he was resolved to wield those powers so as 
best, according to his own judgment, to aid in its attainment. 
He forebore, therefore, for a long time, the issue of such a 
proclamation as he was authorized to mate by the sixth sec- 
tion of the Confiscation act of Congress — awaiting the devel- 
opments of public sentiment on the subject, and being espo- 



212 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

cially anxious that when it was issued it should receive the 
moral support of the great body of the people of the whole 
country, without regard to party distinctions. He soug;ht, 
therefore, with assiduous care, every opportunity of informing 
himself as to the drift of public sentiment on this subject. 
He received and conversed freely with all who came to see 
him and to urge upon him the adoption of their peculiar 
views; and on the 13th of September gave formal audience to 
a deputation from all the religious denominations of the city 
of Chicago, which had been appointed on the Vth, to wait 
upon him. The Committee presented a memorial requesting 
him at once to issue a proclamation of universal emancipation, 
and the chairman followed it by some remarks in support of 
this request. 

The President listened attentively to the memorial, and then 
made to those who had presented it the following reply :' 

Tlie subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have 
thought much for weeks past, aud I may cveu say for months. I am 
approached with tlie' most opposite opinions and advice, and that by 
religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine 
will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in 
that beUef, and perhaps in some respect both. I hope it will not be 
irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his 
will to others, on a point so connected witli my duty, it might be sup- 
posed he would reveal it directly to me ; for, unless I am more deceived 
in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of 
Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it 1 
These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be 
granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the 
plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn 
what appears to be wise and right. 

The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the 
otlier day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York 
called as a delegation on business connected with the war ; but before 
leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general emanci- 
pation, upon which the otlier two at once attacked them. Tou know 



THE PEESIDEISTT AND THE CUICAGO COMMITTEE. 213 

also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti- 
slavery men, yet tliey could not unite on this policy. And the same is 
true of the religious people. Why, the rebel soldiers are praying with 
a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expect- 
ing God to favor their side : for one of our soldiers who had been taken 
prisoner told Senator Wilson a few days since that he met nothing so 
discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in thoir 
prayers. But we will talk over tlie merits of tlie case. 

Wliat good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, espe- 
cially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that 
the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's 
bull against the comet ! Would my word free the slaves, when T cannot 
even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States ? Is there a single 
court, or magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there ? 
And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon 
the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which 
offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come 
within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single 
slave to come over to us. And suppose they could be induced by a proc- 
lamation of freedom from me to tlirow themselves upon us, what should 
we do with them ? How can we feed and care for such a multitude ? 
General Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more 
rations to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the white 
troops under his command. They eat, and that is aU; though it is true 
General Butler is feeding the whites also by the thousand ; for it nearly 
amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call 
off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to 
prevent the masters from reducing the blacks to slavery again ; for I 
am told that whenever the rebels take any black prisoners, free or slave, 
they immediately auction them offl They did so with those they took 
from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee River a few days ago. 
And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it I For instance, when, 
after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from 
Washington under a flag of truce to bury the dead and bring in the 
wounded, and the rebels seized the blacks who went along to help, and 
sent tbem into slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Gov- 
ernment would probably do nothing about it. What could I do ? 

Xow, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would 
follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire ? Understand, 
I raise no objections against it on legal or constitutional grounds, for, as 



214 FRESIDEXT LIXCOLN S ADMINISTEATION'. 

commander-in-chief of the army and navy, in time of war I suppose I 
have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy, 
nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible con- 
pequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this 
matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the 
advantages or disadvantages it may offer to tlie suppression of the re- 
bellion. 

The Committee replied to these remarks, insisting that a 
prochimation of emancipation would secure at once the sym- 
pathy of Europe and the civilized world ; and that as slavery 
was clearly the cause and origin of the rebellion, it was simply 
just, and in accordance with the word of God, that it should 
be abolished. To these remarks the President responded as 
follows : 

I admit that slavery is at the root of the rebellion, or at least its sine 
qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act, 
but they would have been impotent without slavery as their instrument. 
I will also concede that emancipation would help us in Europe, and con- 
vince them that we are Incited by something more than ambiiion. I 
grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the Xorth, though not 
so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine. Still, some 
additional strength would be added in that way to the war, and then, 
unquestionably, it would weaken the rebels by drawing off their laborers, 
which is of great importance ; but I am not so sure we could do much 
with the blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks 
the arms would be in the hands of the rebels; and, indeed, thus far, we 
have not had arms enough to equip our white troops. I will mention 
another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There 
are 50,000 bayonets in the Union army from the Border Slave States. 
It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such 
as you desire, they should go over to the rebels. I do not think they all 
would — not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago — not 
so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. 
They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels. 
Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already 
have an important principle to rally and unite tlio peoiile, in the fact 
that constitutional government is at stake. This is a i'undamental idea 
going down about as deep as any thing. 



PEOCLAMATIOX OF EMANCIPATION. 215 

The Committee replied to this in some brief remarks, to 
which the President made the following response : 

Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these olijeetious. 
They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in 
some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclama- 
tion of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement. 
And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and niuht, 
more than any other. "Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do. 
I trust that in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I 
have not in any respect injured your feelings. 

After free deliberation, and being satisfied that the public 
welfare would be promoted by such a step, and that public 
sentiment would sustain it, on the 22d of September the 
President issued the following preliminary 

PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, 
and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, do hereby pro- 
claim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prose- 
cuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation 
between the United States and each of the States, and the people there- 
of, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed. 

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again 
recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid 
to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States so-called, the 
people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, 
and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may 
voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within 
their respective limits ; and that the efibrt to colonize persons of African 
descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the 
previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be 
continued. 

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and sixty three, all persons held as slaves within 
any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then 
be in rebellion against the United States, sliall be then, thenceforward, 
and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, 



216 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX S ADMIXISTEATIO^T. 

iiielnding t'.ie military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and 
maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to 
repress such persons, or any of them, in any efiForts they may make 
for their actual freedom. 

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by 
proclamation, designate tlie States and parts of States, if any, in which 
the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the 
United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, sliall 
on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of 
the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evi- 
dence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion 
against the United States. 

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An 
Act to make an additional Article of War," approved March 13th, 18G2, 
and which act is in the words and figures following : 

Be it etiacted by the Senate aiid Houxe of Representatives of the United States 
ofAmenca in Congress a.i.sembled. That hereafter the following shall be 
I'romiilLrntcd as an additional article of war for the government of the 
aiiiiy of tliu United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such : 

Akticle. — All olHcurs or persons in the military or naval service of 
the United States arc prohibited from employing any of the forces under 
their respective coniiuauds for the purpose of returning fugitives fi'oiu 
service or laljor who may have escaped from any persons towhoni such 
service or labor is claimed to be due; and any officer who shall be found 
g lilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from 
the service. 

Skc. 2. A>id be itftirtJier enacted, That this act shall take eflfect from and 
after its passage. 

Also, to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled " An Act to 
Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and 
Confiscate Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes," approved July 
IG, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following : 

Skc. 9. And t)eit further enacted. That all slaves of persons who shall 
hereafter be engagi'd in rebellion against the Government of tlie United 
States, or who shall in any way give' aid or comfort thereto, escaping from 
such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all 
slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming 
under the control of the Government of the United States; and all slaves 
orsncli jxTMiiis found on [or] l)einff within any place occupied by rebel 
foriis ;iini ;ifMr\v;u-(l occupied by forces of the United States, shall be 
iliriin (1 I .i|.ii\i - of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and 
not :vuaiii held as slivcs. 

Sec. 10. And he itfnrl/u'renartcd. That no slave escaping into any State, 
'fi rrilory, or the Distriet of Columbia, from any other State, shall be de- 
livcrL'd up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for 



PROCLAMATION OP EMANCIPATIOJf. 217 

crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiminir said 
fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or ser- 
vice of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not 
borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any 
way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the mili- 
tary or naval service of the United States shall, under anypretenee what- 
ever, assume to decide on the validity ot tlie ekiini oi any person to the 
service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to 
the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service. 

And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the 
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and en- 
force, witliin their respective spheres of service, the act and sections 
above recited. 

And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of 
the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout 
the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation 
between the United States and their respective States and people, if 
that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated 
for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of 
slaves. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused tho 
seal of the United States to be afQxed. 

Done at tlie city of Washington, this twenty-second day of Sep- 
tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
[h. s.] and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States 
the eighty-seventh. Aeraham Lincoln. 

By the President : 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

The issuing of this proclamation created the deepest inter- 
est, not unmixed with anxiety, in the public mind. The op- 
ponents of the Administration in the loyal States, as well as 
the sympathizers with secession everywhere, insisted that it 
afforded unmistakable evidence that the object of the war was, 
what they had always declared it to be, the abolition of 
slavery, and not the restoration of the Union ; and they put 
fortb the most vigorous efforts to arouse public sentiment 
against the Administration on this ground. They were met, 
however, by the clear and explicit declaration of the document 
itself, in which the President " proclaiuied and declared" that 
" hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the 
10 



218 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

object of practically restoring the constitutional relation be- 
tween the United States and each of the States and the people 
thereof, in which that relation is or may be suspended or 
disturbed." This at once made it evident that emancipation, 
as provided for in the Proclamation, as a war measure, was 
subsidiary and subordinate to the paramount object of the 
war — the restoration of the Union, and the re-establishraent 
of the authority of the Constitution ; and in this sense it was 
favorably received by the great body of the loyal people of 
the United States. 

It only remains to be added, in this connection, that on the 
first of January, 1863, the President followed this measure by 
issuing tbe following 

PROCLAMATION. 

Wliereas, on the 22cl day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by 
the President of the United States, containing, among other tilings, the 
following, to wit : 

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eiglit hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any 
States or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in 
rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever free ; and the l^xecutive Government of the United States, in- 
cludhig the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and 
maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to re- 
press such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for 
their actual freedom. 

That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by 
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which 
the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the 
United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall 
on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United 
States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of 
the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimon}', be deemed conclusive evi- 
dence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion 
against tlie United States. 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of tlie United States, 
by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against 
the authority and Govtrumcnt of iho United States, and as a fit and 



PEOCLAMATION OF EMA^<,11'ATI0^^ 219 

necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first 
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly pro- 
claimed for Mio full period of one himdred days, from the day fir.-^t 
above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States 
wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against 
the United States, the following, to wit : 

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, 
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, 
Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and 
Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Flor- 
ida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the 
forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties 
of Berkeley, Accomac, Nortliampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess 
Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and 
which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proc- 
lamation were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order 
and declare that aU persons held as slaves within said designated States 
and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free ; and that the 
Executive Government of the L^nited States, including the militarj^ and 
naval authorities thereof, wiU recognize and maintain the freedom of 
said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain 
from aU violence, unless in necessary self-defence ; and I recommend to 
them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable 
wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable 
condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States 
to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man ves- 
sels of all sorts in said service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, war- 
ranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the con- 
siderate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this first day of January, in the year 

J- of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of 

the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. 

By the President : Abraham Lincoln. 

William H. Seward, Secretary- of State. 



220 PEESIDE^T Lincoln's administeatiox. 



CHAPTER VL 

THE MILITARY ADMINISTRATION OF 18G2 THE PRESIDENT AND 

GENERAL m'cLELLAN. 

The repulse of the national forces at the battle of Bull Run 
in July, 1861, aroused the people of the loyal States to a sense 
of the magnitude of the contest which had been forced upon 
them. It stimulated to intoxication the pride and ambition of 
the rebels, and gave infinite encouragement to their efforts to 
raise fresh troops, and increase the military resources of their 
Confederation. Nor did the reverse the national cause had sus- 
tained for an instant damp the ardor, or check the determina- 
tion, of the Government and people of the loyal States. Gen- 
eral McDowell, the able and accomplished officer who com- 
manded the army of the United States in that engagement, 
conducted the operations of the day with signal ability; and 
his defeat . was due, as subsequent disclosures have clearly 
shown, far more to accidents for which others were responsible, 
than to any lack of skill in planning the battle, or of courage 
and generalship on the field. ' But it was the first considerable 
engagement of the war, and its loss was a serious and startling 
disappointment to the sanguine expectations of the people : it 
was deemed necessary, therefore, to place a new commander at 
the head of the army in front of Washington. General McClel- 
lan, who had been charged, at the outset of the war, with opera- 
tions in the department of the Ohio, and who had achieved 
marked success in clearing "Western Virginia of the rebel 
troops, was summoned to Washington on the 22d of July, and 
on the 27th assumed command of the Army of the Potomac. 



GEN. m'cLELLAX SUCCEEDS m'dOAVELL. 221 

Altliough then in command only of a department, General Mc- 
Clellan, with an ambition and a presumption natural, perhaps, to 
his age and the circumstances of his advancement, addressed his 
attention to the general conduct of the war in all sections of the 
country, and favored the Government and Lieutenant-General 
Scott with several elaborate and meritorious letters of advice, as 
to the method most proper to be pursued for the suppression of 
the rebellion. He soon, however, found it necessary to attend 
to the preparation of the army under his command for an im- 
mediate resumption of hostilities. Fresh troops in great num- 
bers speedily poured in from the Northern States, and were 
organized and disciplined for prompt and efiective service. 
The number of troops in and about the capital when General 
McClellan assumed command, was a little over 50,000, and the 
brigade organization of General McDowell formed the basis 
for the distribution of these new forces. By the rniddle of 
October this army had been raised to over 150,000 men, with 
an artillery force of nearly 500 pieces — all in a state of excel- 
lent discipline, under skilful officers, and animated by a zealous 
and impatient eagerness to renew the contest for the preserva- 
tion of the Constitution and Government of the United States. 
The President and Secretary of War had urged the division of 
the army into corps d'armee, for the purpose of more effective 
service; but General McClellan had discouraged and thwarted 
their endeavors in this direction, mainly on the ground that 
there were not officers enough of tried ability in the army to 
be intrusted with such high commands as this division would 
create. 

On the 22d of October, a portion of our forces which had 
been ordered to cross the Potomac above Washington, in the 
direction of Leesburgh, were met by a heavy force of the 
enemy at Ball's Bluff, repulsed with severe loss, and compelled 
to return. The circumstances of this disaster excited a great 
deal of dissatisfaction in the public mind, and this was still 



222 PEESiDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

furtber aggravated by the fact that the rebels had obtained, 
and been allowed to hold, complete control of the Potomac 
below Washington, so as to establish a virtual and eflfective 
blockade of the capital from that direction. Special efforts 
were repeatedly made by the President and the Navy Depart- 
ment to clear the banks of the river of the rebel forces, known 
to be small in number, which held them, but it was found im- 
possible to induce General McClellan to take any steps to aid 
in the accomplishment of this result. In October he had 
promised that on a day named, 4,000 troops should be ready 
to proceed down the river to co-operate with the Potomac 
flotilla under Captam Craven; but at the time appointed the 
troops did not arrive, and General McClellan alleged, as h 
reason for having changed his mind, that his engineers had in- 
formed him that so large a body of troops could not be landed, 
The Secretary of the Navy replied that the landing of the 
troops was a matter of which that department assumed the 
responsibiiitv ; and it was then agreed that the troops should 
be sent down the next night. Tliey were not sent, however 
either then or at any other time, fur which General McClellan 
assio-ned as a reason the fear that such an attempt might bring 
on a general engagement. Captain Craven upor. this threw 
up his command, and the Potomac remained closed to the 
vessels and transports of the United States until it was opened 
ill March of the next year by the voluntary withdrawal of llic 
rebel forces. 

On the 1st of November, Goneral McClellan was appointed 
by the President to succeed General Scott in the command 
of all the armies of the Union, remaining in personal com 
mand of the Army of the Potomac. His attention was then 
of necessity turned to the direction of army movements, and 
to the conduct of political affairs, so far as they came under 
military control, in the more distant sections of the country 
]Jut no movement took place in the Army of the Potomac 



THE president's ORDER FOR AN ADVANCE. 223 

The season had been unusuall}^ favorable foi- military opera- 
tions — the troops were admirably organized and disciplined, 
and in the highest state of efficiency — in numbers they were 
known to be far superior to those of the rebels opposed to 
them, who were nevertheless permitted steadily to push their 
approaches towards Washington, while from the highest offi- 
cer to the humblest private our forces were all animated with an 
eager desire to be led against the enemies of their country. 
As winter approached without any indications of an intended 
movement of our armies, the public impatience rose to the 
highest point of discontent. The Administration was every- 
where held responsible for these unaccountable delays, and 
was freely charged by its opponents with a design to protract 
the war for selfish political purposes of its own : and at the 
ftiU election the public dissatisfaction made itself manifest by 
adverse votes in every considerable State where elections were 
held. 

Unable longer to endure this state of things, President Lin- 
coln put an end to it on the 27th of January, 1862, by issuing 
the following order : 

Executive Mansion, WAsniNaTON, Janvury 27, 1862. 

Ordered, That the twenty-second day of February, i862, be the day 
for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United 
States against the insurgent forces. That especially the army at and 
about Fortress Monroe, the army of the Potomac, the army of Western 
Virginia, the army near Munfordsville, Kentucky, the army and flotilla 
at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on 
that day. 

That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective com- 
manders, obey existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey addi- 
tional orders when duly given. 

That the heads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of War 
and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the Greneral-in-Chief. 
with all other commanders and subordinates of land and naval forces, 
will severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt 
execution of th's order. Abraham Lincoln. 



224 TEESIDEN^T LINCOLN S AD51IXXSTJRAT10X 

This order, which applied to all the armies of the United 
States, was followed four days afterwards by the following 
special order directed to C-eneral McClellan : 

Executive Mansion, "Washington, January 31, 1862. 
Ordered, That all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, 
after providing safely for the defence of Washington, be formed into an 
expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point up- 
on the railroad southwestward of what is known as Manassas Junc- 
tion, all details to be in the discretion of the Commander-iiiChief, and 
the expedition to move before or on tho twent}'-second day of February 
next. Abraham Lincoln. 

The object of this order was to engage the rebel army in 
front of Washington by a flank attack, and by its defeat re- 
lieve the capital, put Richmond at our mercy, and break the 
main strength of the rebellion by destroying the principal 
army arrayed in its support. Instead of obeying \\, jeneral 
McClellan remonstrated against its execution, and urged the 
adoption of a different plan of attack, which was to n;;. ^ 
wpon Richmond by way of the Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahan- 
nock River, and a land march across the country from Urbana, 
leaving the rebel forces in position at Manassas to be held in 
check, if they should attempt a forward movement, only by 
the troops in the fortifications around Washington. As the 
result of several conferences with the President, he obtained 
permission to state in writing his objections to his plan — the 
President meantime sending him the following letter of inquiry : 
Executive Mansion, Washington, Fehruary 3, ] S62. 

My Dear Sir: You and I have distinct and different plans for a 
movement of the Army of the Potomac ; yours to be done by the Chesa- 
peake, up the Rappahannock to Urbana, and across land to the ter- 
minus of the railroad on the York River ; mine to move directly to a 
point on the railroad southwest of Manassas. 

If you will give satisfactory answers to the following questions, I 
Flia'.l gladly yield my plan to yours : 

l.st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger expenditure of time 
imd moJieii than niiue ? 



THE MOVEIIENT TO THE PENINSULA. 225 

2d. '^lierein is a victory more certain by your plan than mine ? 

3d. Wherein is a victory w.ore valuable by your plan than mine ? 

4th. In fact, would it not be less valuable in this : that it would break 
no great line of the enemy's communications, while mine would ? 

5th. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be more difScult by your 
plan than mine ? 

Yours, truly, Abrauam Lincoln. 

Major-General McClellan. 

General McClellan sent to the Secretary of War, under date 
of February 3d, a very long letter, presenting strongly the ad- 
vantage possessed by the rebels in holding a central defensive 
position, from which they could with a small force resist any 
attack on either flank, concentrating their main strength upon 
the other for a decisive action. The uncertainties of the 
weather, the necessity of having long lines of communication, 
and the probable indecisiveness even of a victory, if one should 
be gained, were urged against the President's plan. So 
strongly was General McClellan in favor of his own plan of 
operations, that he said he " should prefer the move from For- 
tress Monroe as a base, to an attack upon Manassas." The 
President was by no means convinced by General McClellan's 
reasoning ; but in consequence of his steady resistance and un- 
willingness to enter upon the execution of any other plan, he as- 
sented to a submission of the matter to a council of twelve 
officers held late in February, at head-quarters. The result of 
that council was, a decision in favor of moving by way of the 
lower Chesapeake and the Rappahannock — seven of the Gen- 
erals present, viz., Fitz-John Porter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, 
McCall, Blenker, Andrew Porter, and Naglee, voting in favor of 
it, as did Keyes also, with the qualification that the army should 
not move until the rebels were driven from the Potomac, and 
Generals McDowell, Sumner, Heintzclman, and Barnard, voting 
against it. 

In this decision the President acquiesced, and on the 8th 
of March, issued two general war orders, the first directing 
10* 



220 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTBATION. 

the Major-General commanding the Army of tne Potomac to 
proceed forthwith to organize that part of said army destined 
to enter upon active operations into four army corps, to be 
commanded, the first by General McDowell, the second by 
General Sumner, the third by General Ileintzelman, and the 
fourth by General Keyes. General Banks was assigned to the 
command of a fifth corps. It also appointed General Wads- 
worth Military Governor of Washington, and dire^'.ed the 
order to be " executed with such promptness and dispatch as 
not to delay the commencement of the operations already 
directed to be undertaken by the Army of the Potomac." 
The second of these orders was as follows : 



Executive Mansion, Washington, March S, 1862. 

Ordered, That no change of the base of operations of the Army of 
the Potomac shall be made without leaving in and about Washington 
such a force as, in the opinion of the General-in-Chief and the com- 
manders of army corps, shall leave said city entirely secure. 

That no more than two army corps (about fifty thousand troops) of 
said Army of the Potomac shall be moved en route for a new base of opera- 
tions until the navigation of the Potomac, from Washington to the 
Chesapeake Bay, shall be freed from the enemy's batteries, and other 
obstructions, or until the President shall hereafter give express per- 
mission. 

That any movement as aforesaid, era route for a new base of operations, 
which may be ordered by the General-in-Chief, and which may be in- 
tended to move upon the Chesapeake Bay, shall begin to move upon the 
bay as early as the eighteenth March instant, and the General-in-Chief 
shall be responsible that it moves as early as that day. 

Ordered, That the army and navy co-operate in an immediate effort 
to capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washing- 
ton and the Chesapeake Bay. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

L. Thomas, Adjutant- General. 

This order was issued on the 8th of March. On the 9th, in- 
formation was received by General McClellan, at Washington, 



EEBEL EVACUATION OF MANASSAS. 227 

that the enemy had abandoned his position in front of that 
city. He at once crossed the Potomac, and on the same 
night issued orders for an immediate advance of the whole army 
towards Manassas, — not with any intention, as he has since 
explained, of pursuing the rebels, and taking advantage of their 
retreat, but to "get rid of superfluous baggage and other im- 
pediments which accumulate so easily around an array en- 
camped for a long time in one locality" — to give the troops 
*' some experience on the march and bivouac preparatory to 
the campaign," and to afford them also a "good intermediate 
step between the quiet and comparative comfort of the camps 
around Washington and the vigor of active operations."* These 
objects, in General McClellan's opinion, were sufficiently ac- 
complished by what the Prince de Joinville, of his staff, styles 
a "promenade" of the army to Manassas, where they learned, 
from personal inspection, that the rebels had actually evacu- 
ated that position; and on the 15th, orders were issued for a 
return of the forces to Alexandria. 

On the 11th of March, the President issued another order, 
stating that " Major-General McClellan having personally taken 
the field at the head of the Army of the Potomac, until other- 
wise ordered, he is relieved from the command of the other 
military departments, retaining command of the department of 
the Potomac." Major-General Halleck was assigned to the 
command of the department of the Mississippi, and the Moun- 
tain department was created for Major-General Fremont. All 
the commanders of departments were also required to report 
directly to the Secretary of War. 

On the 13th of March, a council of war was held at head- 
quarters, then at Fairfax Court-House, by which it was decided 
that, as the enemy had retreated behind the Rappahannock, 
operations against Richmond could best be conducted from 
Fortress Monroe, provided : 

* See General McClellan's Report, dated August 4, 1863. 



228 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN .S ADMINISTKAIIOX. 

1st. That the enemy's vosscl, Merrimac, can be neutralized. 

2d. That the means of transportation, sufficient for an immediate 
transfer of the force to its new base, can be ready at Washington and 
Alexandria to move down the Potomac ; and, 

3d. That a naval auxiliary force can be had to silence, or aid in 
silencing, the enemy's batteries on the York River. 

4th. That the force to be left to cover "Washington shall be such as to 
give an entire feeling of security for its safety from menace. 

Note. — That with the forts on the right bank of the Potomac fully 
garrisoned, and those on the left bank occupied, a covering force in front 
of the Virginia hne of twenty-five thousand men would suffice. (Keyes, 
Heintzelman, and McDowell.) 

A total of forty thousand men for the defence of the city would 
suffice. (Sumner.) 

Upon receiving a report of this decision, the following com- 
munication was at once addressed to the commanding general: 

War Departmext, March 13, 1S62. 
The President having considered the phin of operations agreed upon 
by yourself and the commanders of army corps, makes no objection to 
the same, but gives the following directions as to its execution : 

1. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely 
certain that the enemy shaU not repossess hunself of that position and 
line of communication. 

2. Leave Washington entirely secure. 

3. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a 
new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywliere between here and there, 
or, at all events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the 
enemy by some route. 

Edwix M. Staxton', 

Secretary of War. 
Major-Gcneral George B. MoClellan. 

It will readily be seen, from these successive orders, that 
the President, in common with the whole country, had been 
greatly pained by the long delay of the Army of the Potomac 
to move against the enemy while encamped at Manassas, and 
that this feeling was converted into chagrin and mortification 



AEKAXGEMENTS FOK THE PEJflXSULAE MOVEJIEXT. 229 

wlien the rebels were allowed to withdraw from that posit'uyrj 
without the slightest molestation, and without their design 
being even suspected nntil it had been carried into complete 
and successful execution. He was impatiently anxious, there- 
fore, that no more time should be lost in delays. In reply to 
the Secretary of War, General McClellan, before embarking for 
the Peninsula, communicated his intention of reaching, without 
loss of time, the field of what he believed would be a decisive 
battle, which he expected to fight between West Point and 
Eichmond, On the 31st of March, the President, out of 
deference to the importunities of General Fremont and his 
friends, and from a belief that this officer could make good use 
of a larger force than he then had at his command in the 
mountain department, ordered General Blenker's division to 
leave the Army of the Potomac and join him, a decision which 
he announced to General McClellan in the follovvin2: letter : 



Executive Mansion-, ) 

"Washington, March 31, 1862. ] 
My Dear Sir: This morning I felt constrained to order Blenker's 
division to Fremont, and I write this to assure you that I did so with 
groat pain, understanding tliat you would wish it otherwise. If you 
could ]\now the full pressure of the case, I am confident that you would 
justify it, even beyond a mere acknowledgment that the Commander-in- 
Chief may order what he pleases. 

Tours, very truly, A. Lincoln. 

Major-General McClellan. 

General Banks, who had at first been ordered by General 
McClellan to occupy Manassas, and thus cover Washington, 
was directed by him, on the 1st of April, to throw the rebel 
General Jackson well back from Winchester, and then move 
on Staunton at a time "nearly coincident with his own move 
on Richmond ;" though General McClellan expressed the fear 
that General Banks " could not be ready in time" for that 



230 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's administration-. 

movement. The four corps of the Array of the Potomac, des- 
tined for active operations by way of the Peninsula, were or- 
dered to embark, and forwarded as rapidly as possible to Fortress 
Monroe. On the 1st of April, General McClellan wrote to the 
Secretary of War, giving a report of the dispositions he had 
made for tbe defence of Washington ; and on the 2d, General 
Wadsworth submitted a statement of the forces under his 
command, which he regarded as entirely inadequate to the 
service required of them. The President referred the matter 
to Adjutant-General Thomas and General E. A. Hitchcock, 
who made a report on the same day, in which they decided 
that the force left by General McClellan was not sufficient to 
make Washington " entirely secure," as the President had 
required in his order of March 13 ; nor was it as large as the 
council of officers held at Fairfax Court-House on the same 
day had adjudged to be necessary. In accordance with this 
decision, and for the purpose of rendering the capital safe, 
the army corps of General McDowell was detached from 
General McClellan's immediate command, and ordered to re- 
port to the Secretary of War. 

On reaching Fortress Monroe, General McClellan found 
Commodore Goldsborough, who commanded on that naval 
station, unwilling to send any considerable portion of his force 
up the York Eiver, as he was employed in watching the Mer- 
rimac, which had closed the James River against us. He had, 
therefore, landed at the Fortress and commenced his march 
up the Peninsula, having reached the Warwick River, in the 
immediate vicinity of Yorktown, which had been fortified, and 
was held by a rebel force of about 11,000 men, under 
General Magruder — a part of them, however, being across 
the river at Gloucester. lie here halted to reconnoitre the 
position ; and on the 6th, wrote to the President that he had 
but 85,000 men fit for duty — that the whole line of the 
Warwick River was strongly fortified — that it was pretty 



THE PRESIDENTS LETTER TO GEX. M CLELLAN-. 231 

certain he was to "have the whole force of tlie enemy on his 

hands, probably not less than 100,000 men, and probably 

more," and that he should commence siege operations as soon 

as he could get up his train. He entered, accordingly, upon 

this work, telegraphing from time to time complaints that 

he was not properly supported by the Govemmtnt, and asking 

for re-enforcements. 

On the 9th of x\pril, President Lincoln addressed him the 

following letter : 

■Washington, April 9, 1862. 

My Dear Sir: Tour dispatches,. complaining that you are not prop- 
erly sustaiq^ed, while they do not offend me, do pain me very much. 

Blenker's division was withdrawn from you before you left here, and 
you know the pressure under which I did it, and, as I thought, acqui- 
esced in it — certainly not without reluctance. 

After you left, I ascertained that less than twenty thousand unorgan- 
ized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be 
left for the defence of Washington and Manassas Jimction, and part of 
this even was to go to General Hooker's old position. General Banks's 
corps, once designed for Manassas Junction, was diverted and tied up 
on the line of Winchester and Strasburg, and could not leave it with- 
out again exposing the Upper Potomac and the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad. This presented, or would present, when McDowell and Sum- 
ner should be gone, a great temptation to the enemy to turn back from 
the Rappahannock and sack "Washington. My implicit order that 
Washmgton should, hy the judgment of all the commanders of army 
corps, be left entirely secure, had been neglected. It was precisely 
this that drove me to detain McDowell. 

I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave 
Banks at Manassas Junction : but when that arrangement was broken 
up, and nothing was substituted for it, of course I was constrained to 
substitute something for it myself. And allow me to ask, do you really 
think I should permit the line from Richmond, via Manassas Junction, 
to this city, to be entirely open, except what resistance could be pre- 
sented by less than twenty thousand unorganized troops ? Tins is a 
question which the country will not allow me to evade. 

There is a curious mystery about the number of troops now with you. 
When I telegraphed you on the sixth, saying you had over a hundred 
thousand with you, I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a 



232 PKESIDEXT LIXCOLN's ADMI:S^STEATiO^^ 

fc'tatement taken, as he said, from your own returns, making one hun- 
dred and eight thousand then with you and en route to you. You now 
say you will have but eighty-five thousand when all en route to you 
shall have reached you. How can the discrepancy of twenty -three 
thousand be accounted for? 

As to General Wool's command, I understand it is doing for you pre- 
cisely what a like number of your own would have to do if that com- 
mand was away. 

I suppose the whole force which has gone forward for you is with 
you by this time. And if so, I think it is the precise time for you to 
strike a blow. By delay, the enemy will relatively gain upon you — 
that is, he will gain faster by fortifications and re-enforcements than you 
can by re-enforcements alone. And once more let me teU you, it is in- 
dispensable to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. 
You wiU do me the justice to remember I always insisted that going 
down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manas- 
sas, was only shifting, and not surmounting, a difficulty ; that we 
Avould find the same enemy, and the same or equal intrenchments, at 
either place. The country will not fail to note, is now noting, that the 
present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story 
of Manassas repeated. 

1 beg to assure you that I have never written you or spoken to you 
in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to 
sustain you, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistentlj' 
can. But you must act. 

Yours, very truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

Major-General McClellan. 

In this letter the President only echoed the impatience and 
eagecues.^ of the whole country. The most careful inquiries 
which General Wool, in command at Fortress Monroe, had 
been able to make, satisfied him that Yorktown was not held 
by any considerable force ; and subsequent disclosures have 
made it quite certain that this force was so utterly inadequate 
to the defence of the position that a prompt movement upon 
it would have caused its immediate surrender, and enabled our 
army to advance at once upon Richmond. General McClellan 
decided, however, to approach it by a regular siege ; and it was 



THE REBEL STRENGTH AT YORKTOWX. 23 y 

not until tliis design had become apparent, tliat tlic rebel Ouv- 
ernment began to re-enibrce Magrudcr.* lie continued Lis 

*The following extract from the official report of Major-General 
Magruder, dated May 3d, 1862, and published by order of the Confederate 
Congress, is conclusive as to the real strength of the force which Gen- 
eral McClellan had in front of him at Yorktown : 

Head-Quarters, Department of the Peninsula, ) 
Lee's Farm, May 3, 1862. j 

General S. Cooper, A. and I. G. C. S. A. : 

General : Deeming it of vital importance to hold Yorktown on York 
River, and Mulberry Island on James River, and to keep the enemy in 
check by an intervening line until the authorities might take such steps 
as should be deemed necessary to meet a serious advance of the enemy in 
tiie Peninsula, I felt compelled to dispose my forces in such a manner 
as to accomplish these objects with the least risk possible under the 
circumstances of great hazard which surrounded the little army I com- 
manded. 

I had prepared as my real line of defence, positions in advance at 
Harwood's and Young's Mills. Both flanks of this line were defended 
by boggy and difficult streams and swamps. * * In my opinion this 
advanced line, with its flank defences,' might have been held by 20,000 
troops. * * Finding iny forces too weak to atteinpi the defence of (Ids line, 
I was compelled to prepare to receive the enemy on a second line on War- 
wick River. This line was incomplete in its preparations. Keeping then 
only small bodies of troops at Harwood's and Young's Mills, and on Ship 
Point, I distributed my remaining forces along the Warwick line, embra- 
cing a front from Yorktown to Minor's farm of twelve miles, and from the 
latter place to Mulberry Island Point one and a half miles. I was com- 
pelled to place in Gloucester Point, Yorktown, and Mulberry Island, fixed 
garrisons amounting to 6,000 men, my whole forct being 11,000, so that it ivill 
be seen that the balance of the line, embracing a length of thirteen miles, was 
d<fended by about 5,000 men. 

After the reconnoissances in great force from Fortress Monroe and New- 
port News, the enemy, on the 3d of April, advanced and took possession 
of Harwood's Mill. He advanced in two heavy columns, one along the 
old York road, and the other along the Warwick road, and on the 5th of 
April appeared simultaneously along the whole part of our line from 
Minor's farm to Yorktown. I have no accurate data upon which to base 
an exact statement of his force; but from various sources of information 
I was safi^lic.l that I had before nic the ciirmv's Annv of the Potomac, 
under the .M.iiiniaii.l of ( ii'luial Mc(:i.'l[aii, witl'i \W exemption of the frivo 
a>ri>s il'.ininr olliaiik^ and McDuwell ns[n;ctivi_ l.y—lurniing an aggregate 
number ccriaiuly of not less thau 100,0(X), since ascertained to have been 
120,000 men. 

On every portion of my lines he attacked us with a furious cannona- 
ding and musketry, which was responded to with effect by our batteries 
and troops of the line. His skirmishers also were well thrown forward 
on this and the succeeding day, and energetically felt our whole line, but 
were everj^where repulsed by the steadiness of our troops. Thus with 
i"'),000 uieii, exclusive of t?ie garrisons, we stopped and ?ield in check ouer oue 
hundred thousand <fihe enemy. Every preparation was made in anticipa- 
tion of another attack by the enemy. The men slept in the trenches and 



234 ■ RESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMljnSTRATION. 

applications to the Government for more troops, more cannon, 
more transportation — all which were sent forward to him as 
rapidly as possible, being taken mainly from McDowelFs 
corps. On the 14th of April, General Franklin, detached 
from that corps, reported to General McClellan, near York- 
town, but his troops remained on board the transports. A 
month was spent in this way, the President urging action in 
the most earnest manner, and the commanding general delay- 
ing from day to day his reiterated promises to commence 
operations immediately. At last, on the morning of the 4th 
of May, it was discovered that the rebels had been busy for a 
day or two in evacuating Yorktown, and that the last of their 
columns had left that place, all their supply-trains having been 
previously removed on the day and night preceding. General 
McClellan, in announcing this event to the Government, added 
that "no time would be lost" in the pursuit, and that he 
should " push the enemy to the wall." General Stoneman, 
with a column of cavalry, was at once sent forward to overtake 
the retreating enemy, which he succeeded in doing on the 
same day, and was repulsed. On the 5th, the forces ordered 
forward by General McClellan came up, and found a very 
strong rear-guard of the rebels strongly fortified, about two 
miles east of Williamsburg, and prepared to dispute the 
advance of the pursuing troops. It had been known from the 
beginning that a very formidable line of forts had been erected 
here, and it ought to have been equally well known by the 
commanding general that the retreating enemy would avail 

unrler arms, hut, to my utter mi-prixe, he permitted day after day to dapxe 
v.'Uhoitt a» afisnnlt. 

In a few days tlic object of liis delay was apparent. Tn ei'eiij direction in 

front of our Uncx, t/iroii[/h the intei-veninri voodn ntid nh»ig the opni fchls, 
earthworks hcijau to appiar. Tlirou,<i-li tlie ciiii--^! i.- aiti.m of llie irc'iviTn- 
nient re-enfurccinents bra-nn to pour in, and '.'.,', /,..,',• //,, ,rrii'>j cf't/ie Pra- 
iiisida (jrcir iitroiii]tr and xironffcr, until a)ij:'i' ! i, pa.s^rd frwn niy iuind as to 
the remit of an attack ujion xm. 

* * * * 

J. Bankuead Magruder, Major- General. 



THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. 235 

himself of tliera to delay tlie pursuit. General McClellan, 
liowever, had evidently anticipated no resistance. He remained 
at his head-quarters, two miles in the rear of Yorktown, until 
summoned by special messenger in the afternoon of the 5th, 
who announced to him that our troops had encountered the 
enemy strongly posted, that a bloody battle was in progress, 
and that his presence on the field was imperatively required. 
Replying to the messenger that he had supposed our troops in 
front " could attend to that little matter," General McClellan 
left his head-quarters at about half-past two, p. m., and reached 
the field at five. General Hooker, General Heintzelman, and 
General Sumner, had been fighting under enormous difficulties, 
and with heavy losses, during all the early part of the day ; and 
just as the commanding general arrived, General Kearney 
had re-enforced General Hooker, and General Hancock had 
executed a brilliant flank movement, which turned the 
fortunes of the day, and left our forces in possession of the 
field. 

General McClellan does not seem to have understood that 
this affair was simply an attempt of the rebel rear-guard to 
cover the retreat of the main force, and that when it had 
delayed the pursuit it had accomplished its whole purpose. 
He countermanded an order for the advance of two divisions, 
and ordered them back to Yorktown ; and in a dispatch sent 
to the War Department the same night, he treats the battle 
as an engagement with the whole rebel army. " I find," he 
says, " General Joe Johnson in front of me in strong force, 
probably greater, a good deal, than my own." He again 
complains of the inferiority of his command, says he will do all 
he can " with the force at his disposal," and that he should " run 
the rink of at least holdinr/ them in check here (at Williams- 
burg) while he resumed the original plan" — which was to 
send Franklin to West Point by water. But the direct pursuit 
of the retreating rebel army was abandoned — owdng, as the 



20u PKESiDENT Lincoln's administeatiox, 

general said, to the bad state of the roads, -whica rendered it 
impracticable. Some five days were spent at Williams- 
burg, which enabled the rebels, notwithstanding the " state of 
the roads," to withdraw their whole force across the Chicka- 
hominy, and establish themselves within the fortifications in 
front of Richmond. On the morning of the 7th, General 
Franklin landed at West Point, but too late to intercept the 
main body of the retreating army : he was met by a strong 
rear-guard, with whom he had a sharp but fruitless en- 
gagement. 

The York River had been selected as the base of operations, 
in preference to the James, because it " was in a better position 
to effect a junction with any troops that might move from 
Washington on the Fredericksburg line;"* and arrange- 
ments were made to procure supplies for the army by 
that route. On the 9th, Norfolk was evacuated by the 
rebels, all the troops withdrawing in safety to Richmond ; 
and the city, on the next day, was occupied by General 
Wool. On the 11th, the formidable steamer Merrimac, which 
had held our whole naval force at Fortress Monroe completely 
in check, was blown up by the rebels themselves, and our 
vessels attempted to reopen the navigation of the James 
River, but were repulsed by a heavy battery at Drury's bluff, 
eight miles below Richmond. After waiting for several days 
for the roads to improve, the main body of the army was put 
in motion on the road towards Richmond, which was about 
forty miles from Williamsburg; and, on the 16th, head- 
quarters were established at White House, at the point where 
the Richmond railroad crosses the Pamunkey, an afiluent 
of the York River — the main body of the army lying along 
the south bank of the Chickahominy, a swampy stream, be- 
hind which the rebel army had intrenched itself for the 
defence of Richmond. 

* Sec General McClellan's testimouy— Report of Committee on Con- 
duct of the War, Vol. i., p. 431. 



M CLELLAN S FEAK OF BEING OVEKWHELMED. 23'?' 

General McCIellan began again to prepare for fighting the 
''decisive battle" which he had been predicting ever since the 
rebels withdrew from Manassas, but which they had so far suc- 
ceeded in avoiding. A good deal of his attention, however, 
was devoted to making oat a case of neglect against tlie Gov- 
ernment. On the 10th of May, when he had advanced but 
three miles beyond Williamsburg, he sent a long dispatch tc 
the War Department, reiterating his conviction that the rebel? 
were about to dispute his advancQ with their whole force, and 
asking for " every man" the Government could send him. If 
not re-enforced he said he should probably be " obliged to fight 
nearly double his numbers strongly intrenched." Ten days 
previously the official returns showed that he had 160,000 men 
under his command. On the 14tb, he telegraphed the Presi- 
dent, reiterating his fears that he was to be met by overwlielm- 
ing numbers, saying that he could not bring more than 80,000 
men into the field, and again asking for " every man" that the 
War Department could send him. Even if more troops 
should not be needed for military purposes, he thought a grtat 
display of imposing force in the capital of the rebel govern- 
ment would have the best moral effect. To these repeated de- 
mands the President, through the Secretary of War, on the 
18th of May, made the following reply : 

Washington, May 18 — 2 p. m. 

General : Your dispatch to the President, asking re-enforcementf., 
has been received and carefully considered. 

The President is not willing to uncover the capital entirely ; and it is 
believed that even if this were prudent, it would require more time to 
effect a junction between your army and that of the Rappahannock oy 
the way of the Potomac and York River, than by a land march. In order, 
therefore, to increase the strength of the attack upon Richmond at the ear- 
liest moment, General McDowell has been ordered to march upon that city 
by the shortest route. He is ordered, keeping himself always in posi- 
tion to save the capital from all possible attack, so to operate as to put 
his left wing in commuuicatiou with your right wing, and you are in- 



238 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeatiox. 

structed to co-operato so as to establish this communication as soon as 
possible by extending your right wing to the north of Riclimoud. 

It is beheved that this communication can be safely established either 
north or south of the Pamunkey River. 

In any event, you will be able to prevent the main body of the ene- 
n-y's forces from leaving Richmond, and falhng in overwhelming force 
upon General McDowell. He will move with between thirty-fi\o and 
fc.ty thousand men. 

A copy of the instructions to General McDowell are with this. The 
specific task assigned to his command has been to provide against any 
danger to the capital of the nation. 

At your earnest call for re-enforcements, he is sent forward to co- 
operate in the reduction of Richmond, but charged, in attempting this, 
not to uncover the city of Washington, and you ^vill give no order, either 
before or after your junction, which can put him out of position to cover 
this :;it7. You and he will communicate with each other by telegraph 
or iiherwise, as frequently as may be necessary for sufBcient co-opera- 
tion. When General McDowell is in position on your right, his supplies 
must be drawn from West Point, and you will instruct your stafif officers 
to be prepared to supply him by that route. 

The President desires that General McDowell retain the command of 
the department of the Rappahannock, and of the forces with which he 
moves forward. 

By order of the President. Edwin M. Stanton. 

In reply to this, on the 21st of May, General McClellan re- 
peated his declarations of the overwhelming force of the rebels, 
and uro-ed that General McDowell should join him by water 
instead of by land, going down the Rappahannock and the Bay 
to Fortress Monroe, and then ascending the York and Pamun- 
key Rivers. He feared there was " little hope that he could 
join him overland in time for the coming battle. Delays," he 
says, " on my part will be dangerous : I fear sickness and de- 
moralization. This region is unhealthy for Northern men, and 
unless kev^t moving, I fear that our soldiers may become dis- 
couraged" — a fear that was partially justified by the experience 
of the whu-ie month succeeding, during which he kept them 
idk. lie coaiplaliied also that McDowell was not put more 



niE PBESIDENT TO M CLELLAN. 239 

completely under his coinniaud, and declared that a moveiuent 
by laud would uncover Washington quite as completely as one 
by water. He was busy at that time in bridging the Chicka- 
hominy, and gave no instructions, as required, for supplying 
McDowell's forces on their arrival at West Point. 

To these representations, he received from the President tho 
following reply : 

Washington, May 24, 1862. 

I left General McDowell's camp at dark last evening. Shields's com- 
mand is there, but it is so worn that ho cannot move before Monday 
morninf^, the 26th. "We have so tliinned our line to get croops for other 
places that it was broken yesterday at Front Eoyal, with a probable loss 
to us of one regiment infantry, two companies cavalry, putting General 
Banks in some peril. 

Tho enemy's forces, under General Anderson, now opposing General 
McDowell's advance, have, as their line of supply and retreat, the road 
to Richmond. 

If, in conjunction with McDowell's movement against Anderson, you 
could send a force from your right to cut off the enemy's supplies from 
Richmond, preserve the railroad bridge across the two forks of the Pamun- 
key, and intercept the enemy's retreat, you will prevent the army now 
opposed to you from receiving an accession of numbers of nearly 15,000 
men ; and if you succeed in saving the bridges, you will secure a line of 
railroad for supplies iu addition to the one you now have. Can you not 
do this almost as well as not, whUe you are building the Chickahominy 
bridges? McDowell and Shields both say thoy can, and positively will 
move Monday morning. I wish you to move cautiously and safely. 

You will have command of McDowell, after he joins you, precisely as you 
indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 2\st. 

A. LmcOLN, President. 

Major-General G. B. McClellan. 

General Banks, it will be remembered, had been sent by 
General McClellan on the 1st of April, to guard the approaches 
to Washington by the valley of the Shenandoah, which were 
even then menaced by Jackson with a considerable rebel force. 
A conviction of the entire insufficiency of the forces left for the 



240 PEESIDENT LINCOLK's ADMINISTRA.TIOX. 

protection of the capital, had led to the retention of McDowell, 
from whose command, however, upon General McClelian's 
urgent and impatient applications, General Franklin's division 
had been detached. On the 23d, as stated in the above letter 
from the President, there were indications of a purpose on 
Jackson's part to move in force against Banks ; and this pur- 
pose was so clearly developed, and his situation became so 
critical, that the President was compelled to re-enforce him, a 
movement which lie announced in the following dispatch to 
General McClellan : 

May 24, 1862. — (From Washington, 4 p. ii.) 

In consequence of General Banks's critical position, I have been com- 
pelled to suspend General McDowell's movements to join jou. The 
enemy are making a desperate push upon Harper's Ferry, and we are 
trying to throw General Fremont's force, and part of General Mc- 
Dowell's, in their rear. 

A. Lincoln, President. 

Major-General G. B. McClellan. 

Unable apparently, or unwilling to concede any thing what- 
ever to emergencies existing elsewhere. General McClellan re- 
monstrated against the diversion of McDowell, in reply to 
which he received, on the 26th, the following more full expla- 
nation from the President : 

WAsmxGTON, May 25, 1862. 
Tour dispatch received. General Banks was at Strasburg with 
about 6,000 men, Shields having been taken from him to swell a column 
for McDowell to aid you at Richmond, aud the rest of his force scattered 
at various places. On the 2.3d. a rebel force, of 7,000 to 10,000, fell upon 
one regiment and two companies guarding the bridge at Port Royal, 
destroying it entirely ; crossed the Shenandoah, and on the 24th, yes- 
terday, pushed on to get north of Banks on the road to Winchester. 
General Banks ran a race with them, beating them into Wincliester 
yesterday evening. This morning a battle ensued between the two 
forces, in which General Banks was beaten back into full retreat toward 
Martinsburg, and probably is broken up into a total rout. Geary, on 
the Mana.ssas Gap Railroad, just now reports that Jackson is now near 



Jackson's eaid in the shenandoah valley. 241 

Front Royal with 10,000 troops, following up and supporting, as I 
understand, the force now pursuing Banks. Also, that another force of 
ten thousand is near Orleans, following on in the same direction. 
Stripped bare, as we are here, I will do all we can to prevent them 
crossing the Potomac at Earper's Ferry or above. lIcDowell has about 
twenty tliousand of his forces moving back to the vicinity of Port Royal, 
and Fremont, Avho was at Franklin, is movmg to Harrisonburg, both 
these movements intended to get in the enemy's rear. 

One more of McDowell's brigades is ordered through here to Harper's 
Ferry ; the rest of his forces remain for the present at Fredericksburg. 
We are sending such regiments and dribs from here and Baltimore as 
we can spare to Harper's Ferry, supplying their places in some sort, 
calling in militia from the adjacent States. We also have eighteen can- 
non on the road to Harper's Ferry, of wiiich arm there is not a single 
one at that point. This is now our situation. 

If McDowelYs force was now beyond our reacJi, vie should be entirely 
helpless. Apprehensions of something like this, and no unvnllingncss to siis- 
iain you, has always been my reason for withholding McDowcWs forces 
from yon,. 

Please understand this, and do the best you can with the forces you 
have. 

A. Lincoln, President 

Major-General McClellan. , 

Jackson continued his triumphant march through the Shen- 
andoah valley, and for a time it seemed as if nothing could 
prevent his crossing the Potomac, and mating his appear- 
ance in rear of Washington. The President promptly 
announced this state of things to General McClellan in the 

following dispatch: 

WAsmNGTON, May 25, 18G2— 2 p. M. 
The enemy is moving north ia suflicient force to drive General Banks 
before him ; precisely in what force we cannot telL He is also threat- 
enmg Leesburg and Geary on the Manassas Gap Railroad, from both 
north and south ; in precisely vfhat force we cannot tell. I think the 
movement is a general and concerted one. Such as would not be if he 
was acting upon the purpose of a very desperate defence of Richmond. 
I think the time is near when you must either attack Richmond or give 
up the job, and come to the defence of Washington. Let me hear from 
you instantly. A. Lincoln. 

11 



242 PRESIDENT Lincoln's admimsteation. 

To this General McClellan replied that, independently of the 
President's letter, " The time was very near when he should 
attack Richmond." He knew nothing of Banks's position and 
force, but thought Jackson's movement was designed to pre- 
vent re-enforcements being sent to him. 

On the 26th, the President announced to General McClellan 
the safety of Banks at WilJiamsport, and then turned his at- 
tention, with renewed anxiety, to the movement against Rich- 
mond, urging General McClellan, if possible, to cut the railroad 
between that city and the Rappahannock, over which the 
enemy obtained their supplies. The general, on the evening of 
the 26th, informed him that he was " quietly closing in upon the 
enemy preparatory to the last struggle'' — that he felt forced to 
take every possible precaution against disaster, and that his 
" arrangements for the morrow were very important, and if 
successful would leave him free to strike on the return of the 
force attacked." The movement here referred to was one 
against a portion of the rebel forces at IJanover Court-House, 
which threatened McDowell, and was in position to re-enforce 
Jackson. The expedition was under command of General Fitz- 
John Porter, and proved a success. General McClellan on the 
28th announced it to the Government as a "complete rout'' 
of the rebels, and as entitling Porter to the highest honors. 
In the same dispatch he said he would do his best to cut off 
Jackson from returning to Richmond, but doubted if he could. 
The great battle was about to be fought before Richmond, and he 
adds : " It is the policy and the duty of the Government to send 
me bij water all the well-drilled troops available. All unavailable 
troops should be collected /jere." Porter, he said, had cut all 
the railroads but the one from Richmond to Fredericksburg, 
which was the one concerning which the President had evinced 
the most anxiety. Another expedition was sent to the South 
Anna River and Ashland, which destroyed some bridges with- 
out opposition. This was announced to the Government by 



THE PRESIDENT TO m'cLELLAN. 243 

General McClcllan as another " complete victory" achieved by 
the heroism of Porter, — accompanied by the statement that 
the enemy were even in greater force than he had supposed. 
"I will do," said the dispatch, "all that quick movements can 
accomplish, and you must send me all the troops you can, and 
leave to me full latitude as to choice of commanders." In 
reply, the President sent hira the following : 

Washington, May 28, 1862. 

I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory ; still, if it was a total 
rout of the enemy, I am puzzled to know why the Richmond and Fred- 
ericksburg Railroad was not seized again, as you say you have all the 
railroads but the Richmond and Fredericksburg. I am puzzled to see 
how, lacking that, you can have any, except the scrap from Richmond to 
West Point. The scrap of the Virginia Central, from Richmond to Han- 
over Junction, without more, is simply nothing. That the whole of the 
enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think, cannot be certainly known 
to you or me. Saxton, at Harper's Ferry, informs us that large forces, 
supposed to be Jackson's and Ewell's, forced his advance from Charles- 
town to-day. General King telegraphs us from Fredericksburg that con- 
trabands give certain information that fifteen thousand left Hanover 
Junction Monday morning to re-enforce Jackson. I am painfully im- 
pressed with the importance of the struggle before you, and shall aid you 
all I can consistently with my view of the due regard to all points. 

A. Lincoln. 

Major-General McClellan. 

To a dispatch reporting the destruction of the South Anna 
Railroad bridge, the President replied thus : 

Washington, May 29, 1862. 

Tour dispatches as to the South Anna and Ashland being seized by 

our forces this morning is received. Understanding these points to be 

on the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad, I heartily congratulate 

the country, and thank General McClellan and his army for their seizure. 

A. Lincoln. 

On the 30th, General McClellan telegraphed to the Secretary 
of War, complaining that the Government did not seem to ap- 
preciate the magnitude of Porter's victory, and saying that his 



244 PBEsiDENT Lincoln's administiuvtion. 

array was now well in hand, and that " another day will make 
the probable field of battle passable for artillery." 

On the 25th of May, General Keyes with the Fourth Corps 
had been ordered across the Chickahominy^ and was followed 
by the Third, under General Heintzelraan — one Division of the 
Fourth, under General Casey, being pushed forward within 
seven miles of Richmond, to Seven Pines, which he was 
ordered to hold at all hazards. On the 28th, General Keyes 
was ordered to advance Casey's Division three-quarters of a mile 
to Fair Oaks. General Keyes obeyed the order, but made 
strong representations to head-quarters of the extreme danger 
of pushing these troops so far in advance without adequate 
support, and requested that General Heintzelman might be 
brought within supporting distance, and that a stronger force 
might be crossed over the Chickahominy to be in readiness for 
the general engagement which these advances would be very 
likely to bring on. These requests were neglected, and General 
Keyes was regarded and treated as an alarmist. On the after- 
noon of the 30th he made a personal examination of his front, 
and reported that he was menaced by an overwhelming force 
of the enemy in front and on both flanks, and he again urged 
the necessity for support, to which he received a very abrupt 
reply that no more troops would be crossed over, and that the 
Third Corps would not be advanced unless he was attacked. 
At about noon the next day he was attacked on both flanks 
and in front. General Casey's Division driven back with heavy 
loss, and in spite of a stubborn and gallant resistance on the 
part of his corps. General Keyes was compelled to fall back with 
severe losses, some two miles, when the enemy was checked, 
and night put an end to the engagement. On hearing the 
firing at head-quarters, some four miles distant, General 
McClellan ordered General Sumner to hold his command in 
readiness to move. General Sumner not only did so, but 
moved them at once to the bridge, and on receiving authority 



st5ve:n- pines axd fair oaks. 245 

crossed over, and, by the greatest exertions over muddy roads, 
reached tlie field of battle in time to aid in checking the rebel 
advance for the night. Early the next morning the enemy 
renewed the attack with great vigor, but tlie arrival of General 
Sumner, and the advance of General Heintzeiman's Corps, 
enabled our forces, tliough still greatly inferior, not only to re- 
pel the assault, but to inflict upon the enemy a signal defeat. 
They were driven back in the utmost confusion and with ter- 
rible losses upon Richmond, where their arrival created the 
utmost consternation, as it was taken for granted they would 
be immediately followed by our whole army. 

General McClellan, who had remained with the main body 
of the army on the other side of the Chickahominy during the 
whole of the engagements of both days, crossed the river after 
the battle was over, and visited the field. " The state of the 
roads," he says, " and the impossibility of manoeuvring artil- 
lery, prevented pursuit." He returned to head-quarters in the 
afternoon. On the next day, June 2d, General Heintzelman 
sent forward a strong reconnoitering party under General 
Hooker, which went within four miles of Richmond without 
finding any enemy. "Upon being informed of this fact, General 
McClellan ordered the force to fall back to its old position, 
assigning the bad state of the roads as the reason for not at- 
tempting either to march upon Richmond or even to bold the 
ground already gained. In a dispatch to Washington on the 
2d, he states that he " only waits for the river to fall to cross 
with the rest of the army and make a general attack. The 
morale of my troops," he adds, " is now such that I can venture 
much. I do not fear for odds against me." It seems to have 
been his intention then, to concentrate his forces for an im- 
mediate advance upon the rebel capital, though in his report, 
written more than a year afterwards, he says the idea of uniting 
the two wings of the army at that time for a vigorous move 
upon Richmond was " simply absurd, and was probably never 



246 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

seriously entertained by any one connected with tlie Army of 
the Potomac." * 

The Government at once took measures to strengtlien the 
army by all the means available. An order was issued, placing 
at his command all the disposable forces at Fortress Monroe, 
and another ordering McDowell to send McCall's division 
to him by water from Fredericksburg. McDowell or Fre- 
mont was expected to fight Jackson at Front Royal, after 
which, part of their troops would become available for 
the Army of the Potomac. On the 4th, General McClellan 
telegraphed that it was raining, that the river was still high, 
that he had " to be very cautious," that he expected an- 
other severe battle, and hoped, after our heavy losses, he 
'* should no longer be regarded as an alarmist." On the 5th, 
the Secretary of War sent him word that troops had been 
embarked for him at Baltimore, to which he replied on the 
7th, '■'■ I shall he in perfect readiness to move forward and. take 
Richmond the moment McCall reaches here, and the ground 
will admit the passage of artillery.'''' On the 10th, General 
McCall's forces began to arrive at White House, and on the 
same day General McClellan telegraphed to the Department 
that a rumor had reached him that the rebels had been re-en- 
forced by Beauregard, — that he thought a portion of Halleck's 
army from Tennessee should be sent to strengthen him, but 
that he should " attack with what force he had, as soon as 
the weather and ground will permit — but there will be a delay," 
he added, " the extent of which no one can foresee, for the 
season is altogether abnormal." The Secretary of War re- 
plied that llalleck would be urged to comply with his request 
if he could safely do so — that neither Beauregard nor his army 
was in Richmond, that McDowell's force would join him as 
soon as possible, that Fremont had had an engagement, not 

» See Gen. McCleUau's Report, August 4, 18G3. 



m'clellaxs complaints of m'dowell. 247 

wholly successful, with Jackson, and closing with this strong 
and cordial assurance of confidence and support : 

Be assured, General, that there never has been a moment when my 
desire has been otherwise than to aid you with my whole heart, mind, 
and strength, since the hour we first met ; and whatever others may say 
for their own purposes, you have never had, and never can have, any 
one more truly your friend, or more anxious to support you, or more 
joyful than I shall be at the success wliich I have no doubt will soon be 
achieved by your arms. 

On the 14th, General McClellan wrote to the War Depart- 
ment that the weather was favorable, and that tivo days more 
would make the ground practicable. He still urges tlie pro- 
priety of sending hirn more troops, but finds a new subject 
of complaint in a telegram he had received from McDowell. 
The latter, on the 8th, had received the following orders : 

The Secretary of War directs that, having first provided adequately 
for the defence of the city of Washington and for holding the position 
at Fredericksburg, you operate with the residue of your force as 
speedily as possible in the direction of Richmond to co-operate with 
Major-General McClellan in accordance with the instructions heretofore 
given you. McCalVs Division, which has been by previous order di- 
rected towards Richmond by water, will still form a part of the Army of 
the Rapjmhannock, and will come under your orders when you are in 
a position to co-operate with General McClellan. 

General McDowell had telegraphed McClellan as follows on 
the lOtl) of June : 

For the third time I am ordered to join you, and hope this time to 
get through. In view of the remarks made with reference to my leav- 
ing you, and not joining you before, by your friends, and of something 
1 have heard as coming from you on that subject, I wish to say I go 
with the greatest satisfaction, and hope to arrive with my main body 
in time to be of service. McCall goes in advance by water. I will be 
with you in ten days with the remainder by Fredericksburg. 

And again, June 12th : 



248 PEESIDEXT LI:N^COL:s's ADMINISTEATIOJf. 

The delay of Major-General Banks to relieve the Division of my 
command in the valley beyond the time I had calculated on, will prevent 
my joining you with the remainder of the troops I am to take below at 
as early a day as I named. My Third Division (McCaU's) is now on 
the way. Please do me the favor to so place it that it may be in a position 
to join the others as Uiey come down from Fredericksburg. 

These telegrams, it will be seen, are in accordance with the 
ordei-s to McDowell of the 8th, which directed that McCaU's 
Division should continue to form part of the Array of the 
Eappahannock, and required that McDowell should operate in 
the direction of Richmond, to co-operate with McClellan in 
accordance with instructions heretofore given him. 

These instructions are those of the l7th and 18th of May, 
concerning which McClellan sent the President his long tele- 
gram of the 21st, in which he says: 

This fact (McDowell's forces coming within his Department), my 
superior rank, and the express language of the sixty-second article of 
war, will place his command under my orders, unless it is otherwise 
specially directed by your Excellency, and I consider that he will be 
under my command, except that I am not to detach any portion of his 
forces, or give any orders which can put him out of position to cover 
"Washington. 

To this the President answered : 

You will have command of McDowell after he joins you, precisely 
as you indicated in your long dispatch to us of the 21st. 

In regard to this, McClellan, in his report (August 4th, 
1863), ^ays: 

This information, that McDowell's Corps would march from Freder- 
icksburg on the following Monday — the 26th — and that he would be 
under my command as indicated in my telegram of the 21st, was 
cheering news, and I now felt confident that we would on his arrival 
be sufiQciently strong to overpower the large army confronting us. 

Yet in the simple request of McDowell, as to the posting 
of his Third (McCaU's) Division — made to carry out the 



m'clellan's co?>rrLAi:,TS of m'dotvell. 249 

plan — the news of wlucli, AlcClellan says, was so cheering, 
aiul inspired hira with such confidence, McCIellan sees nothing 
but personal ambition on McDowell's part, and protests against 
that " spirit " in the following terms : 

That request does not breathe the proper spirit. "Whatever troops 
come to me must be disposed of so as to do the most good. I do not 
feel that, in such circumstances as those in which I am now placed, 
General McDowell should wish the general interests to be sacrificed for 
tlie purpose of increasing his command. 

If I cannot fully control all his troops, I want none of them, but would 
prefer to fight the battle ivilh what I have, and let others be responsible for 
the results. 

The department lines should not be allowed to interfere with me ; but 
I General McD., and all other troops sent to me, should be placed com- 
pletely at my dis23osal, to do with them as I tliiuk best. In no other 
way can they be of assistance to me. I therefore request that I may 
have entire and full control. The stake at issue is too great to allow 
personal considerations to be entertained: you know that I have none. 

It had been suggested, in some of the journals of the day, 
that General McDowell might possibly advance upon Rich- 
mond from the north, without waiting for McCIellan : it is 
scarcely possible, however, that any suspicion of such a pur- 
pose could have had any thing to do with General McClellan's 
reiterated and emphatic desire that McDowell should join him 
by water, so as to be in his rear, and not by land, which 
would bring him on his front, — with his peremptory demand 
that all McDowell's troops should be "completely at his dis- 
posal," with his indignant protest against McDowell's personal 
ambition, or with his conviction of the propriety and neces- 
s'ly of disavowing all personal considerations for himself. 
But it is certainly a little singular that a commander, intrusted 
with an enterprise of such transcendent importance to his 
army and country, who had been so urgently calling for re- 
enf^rcements as absolutely indispensable to success, should 
have preferred not to receive them, but to fight the battle 
11* 



250 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADillXISTUATION. 

with what he had, rather than have the co-operation of 
McDowell undiT the two conditions fixed by the President, (1), 
that he should not deprive him of his troops, or, (2), post them 
so as to prevent their being kept interposed between the 
enemy and Washington. Even if he could leave " others to 
be responsible for the results," it is not easy to see how he 
could reconcile the possibility of adverse results with his pro- 
fessedly paramount concern for the welfare of his country. 

On the 20th of June, he telegraphed the President that 
troops to the number probably of 10,000 had left Richmond 
to re-cnforce Jackson ; that his defensive works on the Chick- 
ahominy, made necessary by his " inferiority of numbers," 
would be completed the next day ; and that he would be glad 
to learn the " disposition, as to numbers and position, of the 
troops not under his command, in Virginia and elsewhere," 
as also to lay before his Excellency, " by letter or telegraph, 
his views as to the present state of military affairs throughout 
the whole country^ To this he received the following reply : 

Wasuixgtox, June 21, 18G2 — 6 p. ii. 

Tour dispatch of yesterday, two p. ii., was received this morning. 
If it would not divert too much of your time and attention from the 
array under your immediate command, I would be glad to have your 
views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole 
country, as you say you would be glad to give them. I would rather it 
should be by letter than by telegraph, because of the better chance of 
secrecy. As to the numbers and positions of the troops not under your 
command, in Virginia and elsewhere, even if I could do it with accu- 
racy, which I cannot, I »■. uld rather not transmit either by telegraph 
or letter, because of the chances of its reaching the enemy. 1 would 
bo very glad to talk with you, but you cannot leave your camp, and I 
cannot well leave here. A. LiscOLX, President. 

Major-General George B. McClellan. 

The President also stated that the news of Jackson's having 
been re-enforced from Richmond was coutiiiued by Gen. King 
at FredericksburiT, and added, " If this is tru..', it is as fjood 



M CLELLAN S CO>^TI]SrUED DELAYS. 251 

as a re-enforcement to you of an equal force." In acknowl- 
edging the first dispatcli, Gen. McCleJlan said, he "perceived 
that it woul«i be better to defer the commnnication he desired 
to make" on the condition of the country at large ; he soon, 
indeed, had occasion to give all his attention to the army 
nnder his command. 

Gen. McCIellan had been, for nearly a month, declaring his 
intention to advance upon Richmond immediately. At times 
as has been seen from his dispatches, the movement was fixed 
for specific days, though in every instance something occurred, 
when the decisive moment arrived, to cause a further post- 
ponement. On the 18th, again announcing his intention to 
advance, he said that a " general engagement might take 
place at any hour, as an advance by us involves a battle more 
or less decisive." But in the same dispatch he said, " After 
to-morrow we shall fight the rebel army as soon as Providence 
will permit." But in this case, as in every other, in spite of 
his good intentions, and the apparent permission of Provi- 
dence, Gen. McCIellan made no movement in advance, but 
waited until he was attacked. He had. placed his array astride 
the Chickahoniiny — the left wing being much the su ngest 
and most compact, the right being comparatively weak j^^d 
very extended. He had expended, however, a great deal ot 
labor in bridging the stream, so that either wing could have 
been thrown across with great ease and celerity. Up to the 
24th of June, Gen. McCIellan believed Jackson to be in strong 
force at Gordonsvillc, where he was receiving re-enforcements 
from Richmond with a view to operations in that quarter. 
But on that day he was told by a deserter that Jackson was 
planning a movement to attack his right and rear on the 28th, 
and this information was confirmed by advices from the War 
Department on the 25th. On that day, being convinced that 
lie is to be attacked, and vvill therefore be compelled to fight, 
he writes to the Department to throw upon others the re- 



252 p^.E^IDE^rT Lincoln's aoministuation". 

sponsibility of an anticipated defeat. He declares the rebel 
force to be some 200,000, regrets his "great inferiority of 
nnrabers," but protests that lie is not responsible for it, as he 
has repeatedly and constantly called for re-enforcements, and 
declares that if the result of the action is a disaster, the 
" responsibility cannot be thrown on his shoulders, but must 
rest where it belongs." He closes by announcing that a re- 
connoissance which he had ordered had proved successful, that 
he should probably be attacked the next day, and that he 
felt "that there was no use in again asking for re-enforcements." 
To this the President replied as follows : 

WAsmaiGTON, June 26, 1862. 
Tour three dispatches of yesterday m relation, ending ^N^th the state- 
ment that you completely succeeded in making your point, are very 
g.ratifying. The later one, suggesting the probability of your being 
overwhelmed by 200,000 men, and taMug of to whom the responsi- 
bility will belong, pains mo very much. I give you all I can, and act on 
the presumption that you wiD do the best you can with what j^ou have ; 
while you continue, ungenerously I think, to assume that I could give 
you more if I would. I have omitted — I sliall omit — no opportunity 
to send you re-enforcements whenever I can. 

A. Lincoln. 

Gen. McClellan had foreseen the probhbility of being at- 
tacked, and had made arrangements for a defeat. " More than 
a week previous," he says in his report, "that is, on the ISth," 
he had prepared for a retreat to the James River, and had or- 
dered supplies to that point. His extreme right was attacked 
at Mcchaniesville on the afternoon of the 26th, but the enemy 
were repulsed. The movement, however, disclosed the pur- 
pose of the rebel army to crush his right wing and cut off 
his communications, if possible. Two plans were open to his 
adoption : he might have brought over his left wing, and so 
strengthened his right as to give it a victory, or he might 
have withdrav.n his right across the Chickahominy — in itself 
H strong defensive line — and have pushed his whole force into 



GEN. M CLEI.LAN PREPARES FOR DEFEAT. 253 

Richmond, and upon the rear of the attacking force. Con- 
centration seemed to be absohitely essential to success in any 
event. But lie did not attempt it. He left the right wing- to 
contend next day with 30,000 men, without support, against the 
main body of the rebel aimy, and only withdrew it across the 
Chickaliorainy after it had been beaten with terrific slaughter on 
the 27th, in the battle of Gaines's Mill. On the evening of that 
day he infor(ned his corps commanders of his purpose to fall 
back to the James River, and withdrew the remainder of his 
right wing across the Cbickahominy. On the next day the 
whole army was put in motion on the retreat ; and Gen. Mc- 
Clellan found time again to reproach the Government with 
neglect of his army. If he had 10,000 fresh men to use at 
once, he said, he could take Richmond ; but as it was, all he 
could do would be to cover his retreat. lie repeated that he 
was " not responsible" for the result, and that he must have 
instantly very large re-enforcements; and closed by saying 
to the Secretary of War — what we do not believe any sub- 
ordinate was ever before permitted to say to his superior 
officer without instant dismissal — " If I save this army now, 
I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any persons 
in Washington : you have done your best to sacrifice this army.''^ 
To this dispatch the President replied as follows : 



Washington, June 28, 1862. 
Save your arinv at all events. Will send re-enforcements as fast as 
wo can. Of course, they cannot reach you to-day, to-morrow, or next 
day. I have not said you were ungenerous for saying you needed re- 
enforcements ; I thought you were ungenerous in assuming that I did 
not send them as fast as I could. I feel any misfortune to you and 
your army quite as keenly as you feel it yourself. If you have had 
a drawn battle or a repulse, it is the price we pay for the enemy not 
being in Washington. We protected Washington, and the enemy con- 
centrated on you. Had we stripped Washington, he would have been 
upon us before the troops sent could have got to you. Less than a 



254 PRESIDENT LINOOLK'S ADMESTISTKATIOX. 

v/eek ago you notified us that re-enforcements were leaving Richmond 
to come in front of us. It is the nature of the case, and neither you 
nor the Government is to blame. A. Lincoln. 

Under general orders from General McClellan, he and his 
staft' proceeding in advance, and leaving word where the corps 
commanders were to make successive stands to resist pursuit, 
but taking no part personally iq any one of the succeeding en- 
gagements, the army continued its march towards James River. 
They first resisted and repulsed the pursuing rebels on the 29th 
at Savage Station, in a bloody battle, fought under General Sum- 
ner, and on the 30th had another severe engagement at Glen- 
dale. On the 1st of July, our troops, strongly posted at Mal- 
vern Hill, were again attacked by the rebels, whom they re- 
pulsed and routed with terrible slaughter ; and orders were at 
once issued for the further retreat of the army to Harrison's 
Landing, which General McClellan had personally examined 
and selected on the day before. Even before the battle of 
Malvern Hill, he had telegraphed to Washington for "fresh 
troops," saying be should fall back to the river if possible ; to 
which dispatch he received the following reply : 

Washington-, July 1, 1862 — 3.30 p. m. 

It is impossible to re-enforce you for your present emergency. If we 
had a million of men we could not get them to you in time. We have 
not the men to send. If you are not strong enough to face the enemy, 
you must find a place of security, and wait, rest, and repair. Maintain 
your ground if you can, but save the army at all events, even if you 
fall back to Fort Monroe. We still have strength enough in the country, 
and will bring it out. A. Lincoln. 

Major-General G. B. McClellan. 

On the next day, in reply to a request from General McClel- 
lan for 50,000 more troops, the President thus addressed him: 

WAsmNQTON, July 3, 1862. 
Your dispatch of yesterday induces me to hope tliat your army is 
having some rest. In this hope, allow me to reason with you for a mo- 



GEX, m'cLEIXAn's call FOR MORE MEN". 255 

mont. When you ask for 50,000 men to bo promptly sent vou, you 
surely labor under some gross mistake of fact. Recently you sent 
papers showing your disposal of forces made last spring for the de- 
fence of Washington, and advising a return to that plan. I find it in- 
cluded in and about Washington 75,000 men. Xow, please be assured 
that I have not men enough to fill that very plan by 15,000. All of 
General Fremont's in the Valley, all of General Banks's, all of General 
McDovi'dl's not with you, and all in Washington taken together, do 
not exceed, if they reach, 60,000. With General Wool and General Dix 
added to those mentioned, I have not, outside of your army, 15,000 
men east of the mountains. Thus, the idea of sending you 50,000, or 
any other considerable forces promptly, is simply absurd. If in your 
frequent mention of responsibility you have the impression tliat I blame 
you for not doing more than you can, please be relieved of such impres- 
sion. I only beg, that in Hke manner, you will not ask impossibilities 
of me. If you think you are not strong enough to take Richmond just 
now, I do not ask you to try just now. Save the army, material, and 
peisoanel, and I will strengthen it for the offensive again as fast as I can. 
The governors of eighteen States offer me a new levy of 300,000, which 
I accept. A. Lincoln. 

On the next day, the 3d, General McClellan again wrote 
for 100,000 men — " more rather than less," in order to enable 
him to ''accomplish the great task of capturing Richmond, 
and putting an end to the rebellion ;" and at the same time he 
i-eiit his chief of staif. General Marcy, to Washington, in order 
to secure a perfect understanding of the state of the army. 
The General said he hoped the enemy was as completely worn 
out as his own army, though he apprehended a new attack, 
from which, however, he trusted the bad condition of the 
roads might protect him. On the 4th, he repeated his call 
for " heavy re-enforcements," but said he held a very strong 
position, from which, with the aid of the gunboats, he could 
only be driven by overwhelming numbers. On the same day 
he received the following from the President : 

War Department, Washington City, D. C, Juhj 4, 18G2. 
I understand your position as stated in your letter, and by General 
Marcy. To re-enforce you so as to enable you to resume the offensive 



256 PRESIDENT LIXCOLI^'S ADMINISTEATION. 

within a month, or even six weeks, is impossible. In addition to that 
arrived and now arriving from the Potomac (about ten thousand men, 
I suppose), and about ten thousund, I hope, you will have from Burn- 
side very soon, and about five thousand from Hunter a little later, I do 
not see how I can send you another man within a month. Under these 
circumstances, the defensive, for the present, must be your only care. 
Save the army, first, where you are, if you can ; and secondly, by re- 
moval, if N'ou must. Toil, on the ground, must be the judge as to which 
yoii will attempt, and of tlie means for effecting it. I but give it as my 
opinion, that with the aid of the gunboats and the re-enforcements men- 
tioned above, you can hold your present position ; provided, and so long 
as you can keep the James River open below you. If you are not toler- 
ably confident you can keep the James River open, you had better re- 
move as soon as possible. I do not remember that you have expressed 
any apprehension as to the danger of having your communication cut on 
the river below you, yet I do not suppose it can have escaped your 
attention. A. Lixcoln. 

P. S. — If at any time you feel able to take the ofiensive, you are not 
restrained from doing so. 

A. L. 

At this point on the 7th of July, General McClellan sent to 
the President a letter of advice on the general conduct of his 
Admini-stration. He thought the time had come " when the 
Government should determine upon a civil and military policy 
covering the whole ground of our national trouble," and he 
proceeded to lav down the basis of such a policy as ought to 
be iulopted. The war against the rebellion, he said, " should 
not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any 
State in any event. Neither confiscation of property, political 
execution of persons, territorial organization of States, nor 
forcible abolition of slavery, should be contemplated for a 
moment. He added :" 

Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations 
of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the mas- 
ter, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases. Slaves, contra- 
bnud, under the act of Congress, seeking military protection, should 



GEN". m'cLELLAN S ADVICE TO THE PKESIDENT. 257 

receive it. The right of the Governmcut to appropriate permanently to 
its own service claims to slave labor, should be asserted, and the right 
of the owner to compensation therefor should be recognized. This 
principle might be extended, upon grounds of military necessity and 
security, to all the slaves of a particular State, thus working manu- 
mission in such State; and in Missouri, perhaps in Western Virginia 
also, and possibly even in Maryland, the expediency of such a measure 
is only a question of time. * * 

Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our struggle 
shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces 
will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially upon 
slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies. 



He closed this letter by saying that to carry out these views 
the President would require a Commander-in-Chief who pos- 
sessed his confidence and could execute his orders : he did not 
ask that place for himself, but would serve in any position that 
might be assigned him. " I may be," he adds, '* on the brink of 
eternity ; iiud as I hope for forgiveness from my Maker, I have 
written this letter with sincerity towards you, and from love 
for ray country." 

The President, instead of entering upon a discussion as to 
the general policy of his Administration, continued to urge the 
general's attention to the state of his own army ; and in order 
to inform himself more accurately as to its actual condition 
and prospects, visited the camp on the 8th of July, at Har- 
rison's Landing. The actual strength of the army seems to 
have been at that time a matter of considerable difference of 
opinion; and in regard to it, on returning to Washington, the 
President thus addressed the general : 

Executive Maxsiox, WASnrs-GTON, July 13, 18G2. 

Mt Dear Sm: I am told that over 160,000 men have gone with your 

army on the Peninsula. When I was with you the other day, we made 

out 86,000 remaiuing, leaving 73,500 to be accounted for. I believe 

3,500 wUI cover all the killed, wounded, and missing, in all your battles 



258 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's adm:inisteation. 

and skirmishes, leaving 50,000 wlio have left otherwise. Not more than 
5,000 of these have died, leaving 45,000 of your army still ahve, and not 
with it. I believe half or two-thirds of them are fit for duty to-day. 
nave you any more perfect knowledge of this than I have ? If I am 
right, and you had these men with you, you could go into Richmond in 
the next three days. How can they be got to you, and how can they be 
prevented from getting away in such numbers for the future 7 

A. Lincoln. 



In reply to this letter, the general disclosed the fact that 
38,250 men of his army were absent by authority — i. e., on fur- 
loua;hs granted by permission of the Commanding General. 
The actual number of troops composing his army on the 20th of 
July, according to official returns, was 158,314, and the aggre- 
gate losses in the retreat to the James River was 15,249. 

During the President's visit to the camp, the future move- 
ments of the army were a subject of anxious deliberation. It 
was understood that the rebels were gathering large forces for 
another advance upon Washington, which was comparatively 
unprotected — and as General McClellan did not consider him- 
self strong enough to take the offensive, it was felt to be 
absolutely necessary to concentrate the army, either on the 
Peninsula or in front of Washington, for the protection of the 
capital. The former course, after the experience of the past 
season, was felt to be exceedingly hazardous, and the corps 
commanders of the Army of the Potomac were decidedly in 
favor of the latter. General McClellan at once addressed 
himself to the task of defeating the project. On the 11th, he 
telegraphed to the President that " the array was in fine 
spirits, and that he hoped he would soon make him strong 
enough to try again." On the 12th, he said he was "more 
and more convinced that the array ought not to be withdrawn, 
but promptly re-enforced and thrown arjain upon Richmond." 
He "dreaded the effects of any retreat on the morale of his 
men" — though his previous experience should have obviated 



PREPARATIONS TO CONCENTRATE THE ARMY. 259 

any such apprehension in his mind. " If we have a little 
more than half a chance," he said, "we can take Richmond." 
On the l7th, he urged that General Burnside's whole com- 
mand in North Carolina should be ordered to join him, to 
enable him to "assume the offensive as soon as possible." On 
the 18th, he repeated this request ; and on the 28th, again urged 
that he should be " at once re-enforced by all available troops." 
On the 25th, General Halleck had visited the camp, and, after 
a careful inspection of the condition of the army, called an in- 
formal council of the officers, a majority of whom, upon 
learning the state of affairs, recommended its withdrawal from 
the Peninsula. On the 30th, he issued an order to General 
McClellan to make arrangements at once for a prompt removal 
of all the sick in his army, in order to enable him to move "in 
any direction." On the 2d of August, not having received 
any reply. General Halleck renewed his order to "remove 
them as rapidly as possible ;" to which, on the 3d, General 
McClellan replied that it was " impossible to decide what cases 
to send off unless he knew what was to be done with the 
army" — and that if he was to be "kept longer in ignorance 
of what was to be effected, he could not be expected to 
accomplish the object in view." In reply, General Halleck 
informed him that his army was to be " withdrawn from the 
Peninsula to Acquia Creek," but that the withdrawal should 
be concealed even from his own officers. General McClellan, 
on the 4th, wrote a long protest against this movement — 
saying it mattered not what partial reverses might be sus- 
tained elsewhere — there was the " true defence of Washing- 
ton," and he asked that the order might be rescinded. To 
this letter, after again urging General McClellan on the 4th to 
hasten the removal of the sick, which he was " expected to 
have done without waiting to know what were or would be 
the intentions of the Government respecting future move- 
ments," General Halleck on the 6th addressed him as follows ; 



260 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

Head-Quarters of the Army, ) 
Washington', August 6, 1862. J 

General : Your tele^Tam of yesterday was received this morning, and 
I immediately telegraphed a brief reply, promising to write you moro 
fully by mail. 

You, General, certainly could not have been more pained at receiving 
my order than I was at the necessity of issuing it. I was advised by 
high officers, in whose judgment I had great confidence, to make tlie 
order immediately on my arrival here, but I determined not to do so 
until I could learn your wishes from a personal interview. And even 
after that interview I tried every means in my power to avoid with- 
drawing your army, and delayed my decision as long as I dared to 
delay it. 

I assure you. General, it was not a hasty and inconsiderate act, but 
one that caused me more anxious thoughts than any other of my life. 
But after full and mature consideration of all the pros and cons, I was 
reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the order must be issued — 
there was to my mind no alternative. 

AUow me to allude to a few of the facts in the case. 

You and your ofBcers at our interview estimated the enemy's forces 
in and around Richmond at two hundred thousand men. Since then, 
you and others report that they have received and are receiving largo 
re-enforcements from the South. General Pope's army, covering Wash- 
ington, is only about forty thousand. Your effective force is only about 
ninety thousand. You are thirty miles from Richmond, and General 
Pope eighty or ninety, with the enemy directly between you, ready to fall 
with his superior numbers upon one or the other as he may elect; neither can 
ra-enforce the other in case of such an attack. 

If General Pope's army be diminished to re-enforce you, Washington. 
Maryland, and Pennsylvania, would be left uncovered and exposed. If 
your force be reduced to strengthen Pope, you would be too weak to 
even hold the position you now occupy, should the enemy turn round 
and attack you in full force. In other words, the old Army of the 
Potomac is split into two parts, with the entire force of the enemy 
directly between them. They cannot be united by land without expos- 
ing both to destruction, and yet they must be united. To send Pope's 
forces by water to the Peninsula is, under present circumstances, a 
military impossibility. The only alternative is to send the forces on the 
Peninsula to some point by water, say Fredericksburg, where the two 
armies can be united. 



GEK. HALLECK TO m'cLELLAN. 261 

Let me now allude to some of the objections which you have urged : 
you say that the withdrawal from the present position wiU cause tho 
certain demoralization of the army, " which is now in excellent discipline 
and condition." 

I cannot understand why a simj^le change of position to a new and 
by no means distant base wiU demoralize an army in excellent discipline, 
unless the ofBcers themselves assist in that demorahzation, which I am 
satisfied they will not. 

Tour change of front from your extreme right at Hanover Court-ITouse 
to your present condition was over tliirty miles, but I have not heard 
that it demoralized your troops, notwithstanding the severe losses they 
sustaiued in efifecting it. 

A new base on the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg brings you 
within about sixty miles of Richmond, and secures a re-enforcement of 
forty or fifty thousand fresh and disciplined troops. 

The change with sucli advantages will, I think, if properly represented 
to your arm}', encourage rather than demoralize your troops. Moreover, 
you yourself suggested that a junction might be effected at Yorktown, 
but that a flank march across the isthmus would be more hazardous than 
to retire to Fort Monroe. 

Tou will remember that Yorktown is two or three miles further than 
Fredericksburg is. Besides, the latter is between Richmond and 
"Washington, and covers Washington from any attack of the enemy. 

The political effect of the withdrawal may at first be unfavorable; but 
I think the pubhc are beginning to understand its necessity, and that 
they will have much more confidence in a united army than in its sep- 
arated fragments. 

But you will reply, why not re-enforce me here, so that I can strike 
Richmond from my present position ? To do this, you said, at our inter- 
view, that you required thirty thousand additional troops. I told you 
that it was impossible to give you so many. You finally thought you 
would have "some chance" of success with twenty thousand. But you 
afterwards telegraphed me that you would require thirty-five thousand, 
as the enemy was being largely re-enforced. 

If your estimate of the enemy's strength was correct, your requisition 
was perfectly reasonable ; but it was utterly impossible to fill it until 
new troops could be enlisted and organized, which would require several 
weeks. 

To keep your army in its present position until it could be so re-en- 
forced would almost destroy it in that climate. 



262 PEESIDEXT LI2«"C0LN S ADMrSlSTEATION. 

The months of August and September are almost fatal to whites vrho 
live on that part of James River ; and even after you received the re- 
enforcement asked for, you admitted that you must reduce Fort Darling 
and the river batteries before you could advance on Richmond. 

It is by no means certain that the reduction of these fortifications 
would not require considerable time — perhaps as much as those at York- 
town. 

This delay might not only be fatal to the health of your array, but in 
the mean time General Pope's forces would be exposed to the heavy 
blows of the enemy without the slightest hope of assistance from you. 

In regard to the demoralizing effect of a withdrawal from the Penin- 
sula to the Rappahannock, I must remark that a large number of your 
highest ofBccrs, indeed a majority of those whose opinions have been re- 
ported to me, are decidedly in favor of the movement. Even several of 
those who originally advocated the hne of the Peninsula now advise its 
abandonment. 

I have not inquired, and do not wish to know, by whose advice or for 
what reasons the army of the Potomac was separated into two parts 
with the enemy between them. I must take things as I find them. 

I find the forces divided, and I wish to unite them. Only one feasible 
plan has been presented for doing this. If you, or any one else, had 
presented a better plan, I certainly should have adopted it. But all of 
your plans require re-enforcements which it is impossible to give you. 
It is very easy to ask for re-enforcements, but it is not so easy to give 
them when you have no disposable troops at your command. 

I have written very plainly as I understand the case, and I hope you 
will give me credit for liaving fuUy considered the matter, although I 
may have arrived at very different conclusions from your own. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. H. Halleck, General-in-Chief. 

Major-General G. B. McClellan, Commandijig, etc., Berkeley, Virginia. 

The order for the removal of the sick was given to General 
McClellan on the 2d of August. On the 7th he reported that 
3,740 had been sent, and 5,700 still remained. On the 9th, Gen- 
eral Ilalleck telegraphed McClellan that the enemy was massing 
his forces in front of General Pope and Burnside to crush them 
and move upon Washington, and that re-enforcements must at 
once be sent to Aquia Creek ; to which he replied that he 



APPOII^TTMESTT OF GEN. POPE. 263 

would " move the whole army as soon as the sick were dis- 
posed of." On the 12th, in replyto the most pressing orders 
for immediate dispatch from General Ilalleclc, who nrged that 
Burnside had moved 13,000 troops in two days to Aquia 
Creek, General McClollan said if Washington was in danger, 
that army could scarcely arrive in time to save it. On the 14th, 
he announced that the movement had commenced; on the 
l7th, he Said he "should not feel entirely secure until he had 
the whole army beyond the Chickahorainy, but that he would 
then begin to forward troops by water as fast as transportation 
would permit." On the 23d, General Franklin's Corps started 
from Fortress Monroe ; General McClellan followed the next 
day, and reached Aquia Creek on the 24th, and Alexandria on 
the evening of the 26th of August. 

On the 27th of June the President had issued an order con- 
solidating into one army, to be called the Army of Virginia, 
the forces under Major-Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDow- 
ell, The command of this army was assigned to Major-Gen- 
eral John Pope ; and the army was divided into three corps, 
of which the first was assigned to Fremont, the second to 
Banks, and the third to McDowell. Upon receiving this order 
Major-General Fremont applied to be relieved from the com- 
mand which it assigned him, on the ground that by the ap- 
pointment of General Pope to the chief command, his (Fre- 
mont's) position was " subordinate and inferior to that hereto- 
fore held by him, and to remain in the subordinate rank now 
assigned him, would largely reduce his rank and consideration 
in the service." In compliance with his request, General Fre- 
mont was at once relieved. 

On the 27th of August, General McClellan was ordered by 
General Halleck to '•'^ take entire direction of the sending out 
of the troops from Alexandria''' to re-enforce Pope, whom the 
enemy were pressing with a powerful array, and whose head- 
quarters were then at Warrenton Junction. A portion of the 



264 PEESIDEXT LL5fC0LNS ADMIXISTEATION. 

Army of the Potomac wliich arrived before General McClellan, 
had at once gone forwai-d to the aid of Pope ; — of tliose which 
arrived after him, or which were at Alexandria when he ar- 
rived, not one reached the field or took any part in the hat- 
ties by which the array was saved from destruction, and the 
capital from capture. 

The extent to which General McClellan, who had the 
" entire direction of the sending of these re-enforcements," was 
responsible for this result, is a matter of so much importance, 
not only to himself and the Government, but to the whole 
country, as to demand a somewhat detailed examination. 

In his Report of August 4th, 1863, after giving a portion 
only of the correspondence between himself and the Govern- 
ment on this subject. General McClellan says : 

It will be seen from what has preceded that I lost no time that could 
be avoided in moving the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula to 
the support of the Army of Virginia ; that I spared no effort to hasten 
the embarkation of the troops at Fort Monroe, Newport News, and 
Torktown, remaining at Fort Monroe myself until the mass of the army 
had sailed; and that after my arrival at Alexandria, I left nothing in my 
poiver undone to forward svpjMes and re-enforcennevts to General Pope. I 
sent, -^vith troops that moved, all the cavalry I could get hold of. Even 
my personal escort was sent out upon the line of the railway as a guard, 
with the provost and camp guards at head-quarters, retaining less than 
one hundred men, many of whom were orderlies, invalids, members of 
bands, &c. All the head-quarters teams that arrived were sent out with 
supplies and ammunition, none being retained even to move the head- 
quarters camp. The squadron that habituaUy served as my personal 
escort was left at Fdmouth with General Burnside, as he was deficient 
in cavalry. 

Before taking up more important matters, it may be well to 
remark, that as General McClellan was in the city of Alex- 
andria, and not in any way exposed to personal danger, it is 
difficult to appreciate the merit he seems to make of yielding 
up his personal escort, provost and camp guards, and head- 
quarter baggage teams, when he had no use for them himself, 



IMPKIiATIYE ORDERS TO M CLELLAIST. 265 

and wlicn they were needed for the purpose for which they are 
maintained — operating against the eneray^ and that too in a 
pressing emergency. Even as it was, he seems to have retained 
nearly a hundred, many of whom he says were orderlies, etc., 
etc., around his person. 

Leaving this personal matter, we come to the important 
question — Is it true that General McClellan left, as he avers, 
nothing undone in his power to forward supplies and re-en- 
forcements to General Pope's Army ? Did he, on this 
momentous occasion, honestly and faithfully do his whole duty 
in this respect, without any personal aims, or any jealousy, and 
with the single eye to the success of our arms, and the honor, 
welfare, and glory of the nation ? 

lie had been repeatedly urged to hurry forward the troops 
from the Peninsula. On the 9th of August, he was informed 
by General Halleck that " the enemy is massing his forces in 
front of General Pope and Burnside to tiy and crush them 
and move forward to the Potomac ;" and was further told : 
" considering the amount of transportation at your disposal, 
your delay is not satisfactory. You viust move with all 
celerity^ 

Again on the 10th, General Halleck informed him that " the 
enemy is crossing the Rapidan in large force. They are fight- 
ing General Pope to-day. There must be no further delay in 
your movements : that which has already occured was entirely 
unexpected, and must be satisfactorily explained. Let not a 
moment's time be lost, and telegraph me daily what progress 
you have made in executing the order to transfer your troops." 
Again on the 21st, he was told " the forces of Burnside and 
Pope are hard pushed and require aid as rapidly as you can. 
By all means see that the troops sent have plenty of ammuni- 
tion. We have no time to supply them ; moreover, they may 
have to fight as soon as they land." 

Whether or not the delays of General McClellau were ex- 
12 



266 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

cusable, those telegrams must have shown him, if proof were 
necessary, the emergency in which Pope was placed, and that 
the concentration of the two armies was not being eSected in 
the time expected, and as a consequence that Pope was in a 
critical position, needing immediate help to save his army from 
defeat. It was under these circumstances that General 
McClellan left the Peninsula. 

"When he reached Aquia on the 24th, under most positive 
and pressing orders from Washington, General Pope, who had 
been holding the line of the Rappahannock for nearly a week 
against the assaults of Lee's whole army, and keeping up com- 
munication with Fredericksburg, so as to receive the re-en- 
forcements McClellan had been ordered to send up from the 
Peninsula — finding these re-enforcements not coming by water 
to join his left as fast as Lee marched by land around his 
right, and that his right, though stretched to Waterloo Bridge, 
had been turned and his rear threatened, had been obliged to 
throw back his right first to Warrenton, and then to Gainesville, 
and his left and centre from Rappahannock and Sulphur 
Springs, to Warrenton Junction, Bristol and Manassas. Gen- 
eral McClellan knew on the 24th, when at Aquia, of the 
abandoning of Rappahannock Station, and of Pope's having 
broken his communication with Fredericksburg, and himself 
reported the facts to General Ilalleck. 

August 2Gth, General Ilalleck ordered General McCK-llan 
from Aquia to Alexandria, and told him "General Franklin's 
Corps" which had arrived at Alexandria, " will march as soon 
as it receives transportation." 

General Pope had, when his line was stretched from below 
Rappahannock Station to beyond Warrenton, asked that 
Franklin's Corps might be sent out to take post on his right at 
Gainesville, to which there was transportation by turnpike and 
rtiilroad, to guard against wliat afterwards happened, — the 
movement of the enemy tlirough that place, on liis rear. The 



M clellan's failure to aid PorE. 26V 

failure to liave tliat coi'ps at that place or in the action at all, 
was one of the chief causes of Pope's failure. Why was 
this? 

August 27th, as already stated. General McClellan was 
directed " to take entire direction of the sending out of the 
troops from Alexandria." On the same day he was informed 
of the position of Pope's head-quarters ; of that of most of 
Pope's forces ; of where Pope wished re-enforcements sent 
him — Gainesville ; and that Fitz John Porter, then under Pope, 
reported a battle imminent. At 10 A. m. on that day, he was 
told by Halleck, " that Franklin's Corps should march in that 
direction (Manassas) as soon as possible ; and again at 12 p. M., 
ho was further told by Halleck that '■'• Franklin s Corps should 
move out by forced marches^ carry inri three or fimr days' pro- 
visions^ and to be supplied as far as possible by Railroad.'''' 

It is well to bear in mind these explicit orders, and the cir- 
cumstances under which, and the object for which they were 
given, for General McClellan either seems to have forgotten 
them, or to have utterly failed to appreciate their importance. 
A battle reported by his favorite general, Fitz-John Porter, as 
imminent, within cannon sound of where he was, — the road 
to the battle-field, a wide, straight. Macadam turnpike, well- 
known to both General McClellan and General Franklin, as each 
had been over it more than once, — the whole of the enemy 
and army which had been pressing Pope since the 9th, now 
concentrating to overwhelm him, — here one would think, was 
every motive for him to do, as he claims to have done, every 
thing in his power to send re-enforccments forward, and to 
send them instantly. 

Why was it then, that, at 7.15 p. m., on the 29th, more than 
two days after the order for it to go hj forced marches to re- 
enforce an army engaged in battle, Franklin's Corps was still 
at Anandale, about seven miles froTii Alexandria, and Franklin 
himself in Alexandria? General llall«ck says it was all con- 



268 TKESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

trary to his orders, and McClellan acknowledges himself " re- 
sponsible for both these circumstances." 

In the meantime, Pope's forces fouglit the battles of the 
27th, 28th, and 29th, and were now to fight that of the SOth 
without Franklin's help. Why was this i Were the orders to 
send Franklin out countermanded ? General Halleck says they 
were not. As it is never just to judge a person by the light 
obtained after the fact, let us see, so far as the correspond- 
ence enables us, what were the different phases of the case as 
they presented themselves at the time. 

The intimation to McClellan on the 26th, that Franklin was 
to go to the front, was followed by the positive orders of the 
27th, given at 10 a. m. and 12 m. On that day General Mc- 
Clellan reports that Generals Franklin, Smith, and Slocum are 
all in Washington ; and that he had given orders to place 
the coips in readiness to march to the next in rank. At the 
same time, he reports heavy firing at Centreville. 

On the 28th, Halleck, learning that McClellan, who it seems 
had also gone to Washington, had not returned to Alexandria, 
sent orders to Franklin direct, to move with his corps that day 
(the 28th) towards Manassas Junction. On the 28th, at 3.30 
p. M., Halleck informs McClellan that " not a moment must be 
lost in pushing as large a force as possible towards Manassas 
so as to communicate with Pope before the enemy is re-en- 
forced." On tlie same day, at 7.40 p. m., he again tells him : 

" There must be no further delay ia moving Franklin's Corps towards 
Manassas. TJicy must go to-mnrmv morning ready or not ready. If we 
delay too long to get ready, there will be no necessity to go at all, for 
Pope will either be defeated or victorious without our aid. If there is 
a want of wagons, the men must carry provisions with them till the 
wagons come to their rehef." 

There is no possible room for misunderstanding the inten- 
tion of the General-in-Chief from these orders. He wished. 



M CLELLAN S EXCUSES FOE DELAY. 269 

and ordered, that communication should be at once re-estab- 
lished with Pope, and Pope re-enforced in time to be of service. 

Why did not McClellan re-establish the communication, and 
re-enforce Pope in time to be of service ? Why did he halt 
Franklin's Corps at Anandale ? 

He gives reasons for this in his telegram to Halleclc of 
August 29th. "By referring to my telegrams," he says, "of 
10.30 A. M., 12 M., and 1 p. m., together with your reply of 
2.48 r. M., yon will see why Franklin's Corps halted at Anan- 
dale." Let us examine these telegrams in connection with the 
circumstances then existing. The first is follows : 

Camp near Alexandria, ) 
Augud 29, 10.30 A. M. ) 

" Franklin's Corps are in motion ; started about six A. M. I can give 
him but two squadrons of cavalry. I propose moving General Cox 
to Upton's Hill to liold that important point with its works, and to pusli 
cavalry scouts to Yiemia via Freeman Hiil and Hunter's lane. Cox has 
two squadrons of cavalry. Please answer at once whether this meets 
your approval. I have directed Woodbury, with the Engineer Brigade, 
to hold Fort Lyon. Sumner detached last night two regiments to the 
vicinity of Forts Kthan Allen and Marcy. Meagher's Brigade is still at 
Aquia. //' Sumncrmoves in siqiport of FranMln, it leaves us without any 
reliable troops in and near Washington ; yet Franklin is too weak o.lonc. 
What shall be done 7 No more cavalry arrived. Have but three squad- 
rons belonging to the Army of the Potomac. Franklin has but forty 
rounds of ammunition, and no wagons to move more. I do not think 
Franklin is in a condition to accomplish much if he meets strong resist- 
ance. / should not have moved him but for your pressing orders of last 
night. What have you from Vienna and Drainsvillo ? 

Geo. B. McClellan, Major- General. 

Major-General H. W. Halleck, Gencral-in- Chief. 

To this Halleck replies : 

War Department, ) 

WASniNGTON, D. C, August 29, 1862. [ 
Upton's Hill arrangement all right. We must send wagons and am- 
munition to Franklin as fast as they arrive. Meagher's Brigade ordered 



270 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

up yesterday. Fitzhufrh Lee was, it is said on good authority, in Alex- 
andria on Sunday last for three hours. I hear nothing from Drainsville. 
H. "W. Halleck, Gemral-in- Chief. 

" Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. 

To this McClellan sends the second of the dispatches he re- 
fers to, as follows. There are two telegrams of the same date. 

Head-Quarters Army Potomac, ) 
Aug>ist 29, 1862, 12 M. f 

Tour telegram received. Do you wish the movement of Franklin's 
Corps to continue f He is without reserve ammunition, and without 
transportation. Geo. B. McClellan, Mafor- General. 

ilajor-General H. W. Halleck, General-in- Chu'f. 

Headquarters Armt Potomac, ) 
Alexandria, Virginia, Aug. 29, 1862, 12 m. J 
Have ordered most of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry to report to 
General Barnard for scouting duty toward Rockville, Poolesville, etc. 
If you apprehend a raid of cavalry on your side of river, I had better 
send a brigade or two of Sumner's to near Tennallj-town. "Would it 
meet your views to post rest of Sumner's Corps between Arhngton and 
Fort Corcoran, where they can either support Cox, Franklin, Chain Bridge, 
and even Tennallytown ? 

Franklin has only 10,000 to 11,000 ready for duty. How far do you 
wish the force to advance ? 

George B. McClellan, Maj.-Gen. U. S. Army. 
Major-General Halleck. General-in- Chief. 

Then follows the telegram of 1 p. m. : 

Head-Quarters near Alexandria, ) 
August 29, 1862, 1 p. M. ) 

I anxiously await reply to my last dispatch in regard to Sumner. 
"Wish to give order at once. Please authorize me to attach new regiments 
permanently to my old brigades. I can do much good to old and new 
troops in that way. I shall endeavor to hold a line in advance of Forts 
Allen and Marsh, at least with strong advanced guards. I wish to 
hold the line through Prospect liill, Marshall's, Miner's, and Hall's 
Hills. This will give us timely warning. Shall I do as seems best to me 
with all the troops in this vicinity, including Franklin, who I really think 
ought not, under the present circumstances, to proceed beyond Anandcde t 
G. B. McClellan, Major-General. 
General Halleck, General-in-Chief 



m'cJ-KLLAN PROrOSES TO LEAVE POPE UNAIDED. 271 

It certainly is not easy to discover in tliese dispatches any 
indications of a strong desire to re-enforce the Army of the 
Potomac, then fighting a battle in his front and within his 
hearing, but under another commander. They evince no 
special interest in the result of tliat battle, or the fate of that 
army — the army for wliich, while under his command, he had 
expressed so much aflfection, and whose defeat he afterwards 
declared, when he wjvs again at its head, would be incompar- 
ably more disastrous to the nation than the capture of Wash- 
ington itself. We find in these dispatches, which he cites in his 
own vindication, no evidence to sustain the declaration of his 
report, that from the moment of his arrival at Alexandria he 
" left nothing in his power undone to forward supplies and re- 
enforcements to Gen. Pope." On the contrary, they seem to 
show that he liad decided to do, what in a telegram of Um 
same date he had suggested to the President, " leave Pop* to 
get out of his scrape,^'' and devote himself exclusively to the 
safety of Washington.* lie thinks any disposition of Frank- 
lin's and Sumner's troops wise, except sending them forward 
to re-enforce Pope. He is anxious to send them to Upton's 
Hill, to Chain Bridge, to Tennallytown, to Arlington, and Fort 
Corcoran — anywhere and everywhere except where they were 
wanted most, and where alone they could assist in getting 

* On the 29th ho had tolegraphod to the President as follows : 

I am clear that one of two courses should be adopted : First, to con- 
centrate aU our available forces to open communications with Pope ; 
second, to Uave Pope to get out of Ms scrape, and at once iise aU our means 
to make tlie capital perfectly safe. No middle ground will now answer. 
Tell me what you wish me to do, and I will do all in my power to 
accomplish it. 

To this the President had thus replied : 

Washington, Augut-t 29, 1862 — i.lO p. m. 

Yours of to-day just received. I think your first alternative, to wit, 
" to concentrate all our available forces to open communication with 
Pope" is the right one, but I wish not to control. That I now leavo 
to General Ilalleck, aided by your counsels. A. Lincoln. 

ilajor-Greneral McClellan. 



272 PKESiDENT Lincoln's admintsteation. 

Pope " out of bis scrape," and in saving the Army of the 
Potomac. It was natural and proper that he should give at- 
tention to the defence of Washington, for he had, as Gon. 
Halleck says, " general authority over all the troops" that 
were defending it. But his special duty was " sending out 
troops from Alexandria to re-enforce Pope." Why did he 
give so much attention to the former, and so little to the 
latter duty ? Why was it that, from the time of his landing 
at Alexandria, not another man of his army joined Pope, or 
made a diversion in his favor, till after Pope had fallen back 
from Manassas and fought four battles without the aid he had 
a right to expect, and which Gen. McClellan was repeatedly 
and peremptorily ordered to give ? 

Those of McClellan's forces which had reached Alexandria 
before him, or were there before his arrival, Sturgis, Kearney, 
Hooker, and Heintzelman, had all gone forward and joined in 
these battles. Why could not Franklin — all of whose move- 
ments were controlled by McClellan — do as much with hira 
as his brother commanders had done without him ? 

The first thing that McClellan did, on reaching Alexandria, 
in the discharge of his duties to send forward troops, was to 
stop those actually going! In his dispatch of August 27th, 
9 o'clock p. M., he says to General Halleck — " I found part 
of Cox's command under orders to take the cars : will halt 
it with Franklin until mornincj /" And Cox never went out, 
though anxiously expected and under orders to move. What 
are the reasons given by McClellan for not sending, or not 
permitting Franklin to go? On the 27th, at 11.15 p. m., 
immediately after the positive order was issued for Franklin 
to move by forced marches and carry three or four days' pro- 
visions, McClellan says : 

" Franklin's artillery has no horses except for four guns without cais- 
BOns. I can pick up no cavalry. * * I do not see that we have force 
enough in hand to form a connection with Pope, whose exact position 
we do not know." 



EXCUSES FOB FBANKLIn's DELAY. 273 

A part of the perplexity be seems to have been in was 
removed that day at 6 o'clock, p. m., when he received, as he 
says, a copy of a dispatch from Pope to Halleclc, in wliicli 
Pope says : " All forces now sent forward should be sent to 
my right at Gainesville." 

The next day, at 1 p. m., he telegraphs, 

" I have been doing all possible to hurry artillery and cavalry. The 
moment Franklin can be started with a reasonable amount of artillery he 

shall go." 

Again, at 4.40 of the 28th, he telegraphs. 

General Franklin is with vie here. I will know in a few moments 
the condition of artillery and cavalry. We are not yet in a condition to 
more ; may be by to-morrow morning. 

A few moments later, he says : 

Your dispatch received. Xdther Franldin^s nor Sumner^s Corps is 
now in condition to move and fight a battle. It would be a sacrifice to 
send them out now 1 I have sent aids to ascertain tho condition of 
Colonel Tyler : but I still thiak that a premature movement in small force 
will accomplish nothing but the destruction of the troops sent out." 

The small force (?) to which he refers consisted, as hereto- 
fore stated, of Sumner's Corps of 14,000 and Franklin's of 
11,000, a total of 25,000 — not going to fight a battle by itself, 
but to re-enforce an army already engaged, and constituting 
certainly a handsome re-enforcement on any field. On the 29th, 
he says : 

Franklin has but forty rounds of ammunition and no wagons to move 
more. I do not think FrankUn is in a condition to accomphsh much if 
he meets strong resistance. I should not have moved him but for your 
pressing orders of last night. 

On this same day — 

Do you wish the movement of Fravkliri's Corps to continue? He is with- 
out reserve ammunition and without transportation. 
12* 



274 PKESIDEISTT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 

It may be remarked here, that Franklin had not yet gone 
beyond Anandale — about seven miles — and had as yet, neither 
come upon the enemy or joined the array in front, nor gained 
any information about either. If, therefore, his movement 
was not to continue, it must be because it was too hazardous, 
or because he had no reserve ammunition or transportation. 

So, it seems, it was Gen. McClellan's judgment that Frank- 
lin could not be sent, as soon as he landed, to re- enforce 
Pope — because, 1st, he had his artillery only partially mounted; 
2d, he had no cavalry ; 3d, he had but forty rounds of am- 
munition, and no transportation for more. The subsequent 
difficulties were, that he had no transportation for his reserve 
ammunition, and was too weak alone, and Sumner ought not 
to be sent to support him, as it would leave the Capital un- 
protected ! 

It is fortunate some of McClellan's corps preceded him from 
the Peninsula, and arrived and marched before he came up. 
For, if not, two of the corps who joined Pope and fought 
under him would have been halted for the reasons that stayed 
Franklin. Kearney joined without artillery, and Pope ordered 
two batteries to be given him ; Porter had but forty rounds 
of ammunition — Heintzelman joined without cavalry. 

"Wliy, may it be asked, were " neither Sumner's nor Frank- 
lin's Corps in a condition to move and fight a battle ?" 
McClellan had been told that in embarking his troops lie 
must see they were supplied with ammunition, " as they 
might have to fight as soon as they landed." The men were 
not fatigued by hard marches, nor exhausted with fighting 
and lack of food, as were their companions in front. What 
was there to prevent their going to re-enforce them, but the 
orders and pretexts for delay of General McClellan ? 

It will have been noticed that lack of transportation was at 
the bottom of the alleged difficulties. Transportation was not 
required for supplies, for the men were ordered to carry their 



M clellan's excuses peovbd gboundless. 275 

food with them. Is it not strange that, in view of the emergency 
of the case, some extraordinary means were not resorted to to 
impress horses and wagons — if none existed in the hands of the 
Government — in the cities of Alexandria, Georgetown, and 
Washington, where there was an abundance of both ? 
Such things have been done even in this war, on much less 
important occasions than this one. 

But will not this plea seem stranger still when it is found 
that there was no need of pressing any private property 
into service — that there was plenty of public transportation 
on hand? Let the following dispatch show : 

"Wae Department, ) 

"Washington, D. C, August 30th, 1862. J 
I am by no means satisfied with General Franklin's march of yester- 
day, considering the circumstances of the case. Ho was very wrong in 
stopping at Alexandria. Moreover, I learned la^t night that the Quarter- 
master's Depart mentivould have given him plenty of transportation if he had 
applied for it any time since his arrival at Alexandria. Ho knew the 
importance of opening communication with General Pope's army, and 
should have acted more promptly. 

H. W. Halleck, Gcneral-in- Chief . 
Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. 

But most strange of all is, that General McClellan knew of 
there being public transportation at hand, and yet did not use 
it, even when the fate of a campaign depended upon it, and 
afterwards assigned the want of it as the reason for not obey- 
ing his orders to send re-enforcements. He says, in his dis- 
patch of August 30, to Gen. Pope : 

\ The quartermasters here (Alexandria) said therd was none dispos- 
' able. The difficulty seems to consist in the fact (he adds), that the greater 

part of the transportation on harid at Alexandra ai}d Washington, has been 

needed for current supplies of the garrisons.^' 

The inference is irresistible that General McClellan, who 
bad charge of every thing in and around Alexandria and 



276 PEESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADMIXISTRATION. 

"Washington, thought it was better that the Army of the 
Potomac, under Pope, should not be re-enforced, and be de- 
feated, than that the garrisons should be subjected to the 
slightest inconvenience ! 

The answer of General Halleck to the telegrams of General 
McClellan, in which the latter made so many propositions 
about the movements of Sumner's Corps and the disposition of 
Cox's force and the other troops for the defence of Washing- 
ton, is as follows : 

War Department, ) 

"Washington, D. C, August 2dth, 1862. f 
Tour proposed disposition of Sumner's Corps seems to me judicious. 
Of course I have no time to examine into details. The present danger 
is a raid upon Wasliington in the night time. Dispose of all troops as 
you deem best. I want Franklin's Corps to go far enough to find out 
something about the enemy. Perhffps he may get such information at 
Anandale as to prevent his going further. Otherwise, he will push on 
toivards Fairfax. Try to get something from direction of Manassas 
either by telegrams or through Franklin's scouts. Our people mv^t 
move actively and find out where the enemy is. I am tired of guesses. 

H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief. 
Major-General McClellan, Alexandria. 

It is in this dispatch that General McClellan finds his 
authority to halt Franklin at Anandale. Franklin had been 
repeatedly ordered to join Pope, but had been delayed by 
McClellan, who evidently did not intend he should get beyond 
his control if possible. 

In his telegram to Halleck of 1 p. m. of the 29th, he asks if 
he may do as seems to him best with all the troops in the 
vicinity of Alexandria, including Franklin — Franklin being 
still in the vicinity of Alexandria. Ilalleck, in giving him 
authority to dispose of all troops in his vicinity evidently refers 
to the disposition to be made of those for the forts and 
defences, for he proceeds to say, I want " FranJclhi's Corps 
to go far enough to find out something about the cnemv." 



M<;LELLAN S ALLEGED LACK OF SUPPLIES. 211 

Franklin's Corps did not go out far enougli to learn any thing 
about the enemy. Wliat he learned he picked up at Anan- 
dale from citizens, and probably from Banks's wagon-train, 
which passed him as it came from the front, which it seems 
it vvas able to do with safety at the time McClellan considered 
it too hazardous for 40,000 men to move to the front to join 
the array. 

It is unnecessary to pursue this matter any farther, and 
show, as might easily be done, how similar delays were pro- 
cured with respect to other troops which might have been 
sent to re-enforce Pope. It is sufficient to say that forty 
thousand men, exclusive of Burnside's force, were thus — as it 
seems to us intentionally — withheld from Pope at the time he 
was engaged in holding the army of Lee in check. 

Having thus disposed of the question of re enforcements^ it 
now remains to say a word about supplies which General 
McClellan says he left nothing undone to forward to Pope. 

When at Fort Monroe he telegraphed (August 21st, 10. 
52 p. M.) : 

I have ample supplies of ammunition for infantry and artillery, and 
will have it up in time. / can aupply any dtijlciency that may exist in 
General Pope's army. 

August the 30th (1.15 p. m.), General Halleck telegraphed 
him : 

Ammunition, and particularly for artillery, must be immediately sent 
forward to Centreville for General Pope. 

To which he replied : 

I know nothing of the calibres of Pope's artillery. All I can do is to 
direct my ordnance officer to load up all the wagons sent to him. 

General McClellan might have very easily found out those 
calibres. His ordnance officer knew those of the corps of his 
own army, and he was in telegraphic communication with the 
ordnance officer in Washington, where a register is kept of all 
the batteries in service. 



278 PEEsiDENT Lincoln's administkation. 

"VVLat was his course with respect to supplies of forage and 
subsistence, of which Pope's army was in such extreme 
need ? 

He directed Franklin to say to Pope he would send him out 
supplies if he, Pope, would send back cavalry to escort them 
out ! " Such a request," (says Pope in his dispatch of 5 a, m., 
August 30), "when Alexandria is full of troops, and I fighting 
the enemy, needs no comment." 



The x\rmy of the Potomac, under General Pope, was 
defeated and driven back upon Washington. But it had con- 
tested every inch of the ground, and had fought every battle 
with a gallantry and tenacious courage that would have insured 
a decisive viciory if it had been properly and promptly sup- 
ported. It was not broken, either in spirit or in organization ; 
and it fell back upon the Capital prepared to renew the 
struggle for its salvation. 

By this time, however. General McClcllan had become the 
recognized head of a political party in the country, and a 
military clique in the army ; and it suited the purposes of both 
to represent the defeat of the Army of the Potomac as due to 
the fact that General McClellan was no longer at its head. 
The progress of the rebel army, moreover, up the Potomac, 
with the evident intention of moving upon Baltimore or into 
Pennsylvania, had created a state of feeling throughout the 
country and in Washington eminently favorable to the designs 
of General McClellan's partisans ; and upon the urgent but un- 
just representation of some of his officers that the army would 
not serve under any other commander, General Pope was 
relieved, and General McClellan again placed at the head of 
the Army of the Potomac, and on the 4th of September he 
commenced the movement into Maryland td repel the invading 
rebel forces. 

On the 11th, he made urgent application for re-enforce- 



MCLELLANS ADVANCE INTO MARYLAND. 279 

ments, asking that Colonel Miles be withdrawn from Har- 
per's Ferry, and that one or two of the three army corps 
on the Potomac, opposite Washington, be at once sent to 
join him. " Even if Washington should be taken," he said, 
" while these armies are confronting each other, this would 
not in my judgment bear comparison with the ruin and 
disaster that would follow a single defeat of this army," 
although, as will be remembered, when that army was under 
Pope, and engaged in a battle which might destroy it, he 
had said (Aug. 2*7), " I think we should first provide for the 
defence of the Capital." General Halleck replied that "the 
capture of Washington would throw them back six months if not 
destroy them," and tliat Miles could not join him until communi- 
cations were opened. On the 14th, the battle of South Moun- 
tain took place, the rebels falling back to the Potomac, and on 
the l7th, the battle of Antietam was fought, resulting in the 
defeat of the rebel forces, although no pursuit was made, and 
they were allowed, during the night and the whole of the next 
dajj-, quietly to withdraw their shattered forces to the other 
side of the Potomac. The losses he had sustained and the 
disorganization of some of his commands were assigned by 
General McClellan as his reason for not renewing the attack, 
although the corps of General Fitz-John Porter had not been 
brought into action at all. Orders were issued, however, for 
a renewal of the battle on the 19th, but it was then suddenly 
discovered that the enemy was on the other side of the Poto- 
mac. General McClellan did not feel authorized on account 
of the condition of his army to cross in pursuit, and on the 
23d, wrote to Washington, asking for re-enforceraents, renew- 
ing the application on the 27th, and stating his purpose to be 
to hold the array where it was, and to attack the. enemy should 
he attemjot to recross into Maryland. He thought that only 
the troops necessary t5 garrison Washington should be re- 
tained there, and that every thing else available should be sent 



280 PRESIDENT Li:SrCOLN's ADMINISTBATIOX. 

to him. If re-enforced and allowed to take his own course, 
he said, he would be responsible for the safety of the Capital. 
On the 1st of October, President Lincoln visited the army 
and made careful inquiry into its strength and condition. On 
the 6th, he issued the following order for an immediate ad- 
vance : 

WASinNGTON, D. C, October 6, 1862. 

I am instructed to telegraph to you as follows : The President directs 
that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him 
south. Tour army must move now, while the roads are good. If 
you cross the river between the enemy and T\^ashington, and cover the 
latter by your operation, you can be re-enforced with thirty thousand 
men. If you move up the valley of the Slienandoah not more than 
twelve or fifteen tliousand can bo sent you. The President advises the 
interior line between Washington and the enemy, but does not order it. 
He is very desirous that your army move as soon as possible. You 
will immediately report what Une you adopt, and when you intend to 
cross the river : also to what point the re-enforceraents are to be sent. 
It is neces.sary that the plan of your operations be positively determined 
on, before orders are given for building bridges and repairing railroads. 
I atn directed to add, that the Secretary of War and the General-in- 
Chief fully concur with the President in these instructions. 

H. W. Halleck, Gcneral-in- Chief. 

Major-General McClellan. 

On receiving this order, Gen. McClellan inquired as to the 
character of troops that would be sent him, and as to the 
number of tents at command of the army. He also called 
for very large quantities of shoes, clothing, and other sup- 
plies, and said that without these the army could not move. 
On the 11th, the rebel Gen. Stuart, with a force of about 
2,-500 men, made a raid into Pennsylvania, going completely 
round our arinv, and thwarting all the arrangements by which 
Gen. McClellan had reported that his capture was certain. 
On the 13th, in consequence of his' protracted delays, the 
President addressed to General McClellan thefollowino: letter: 



THE PRESIDENT S LETTEPw TO M CLKLLAX. 281 

ExECurrvE Mansio^j, WASniNoroN, Od. 13, 13G2. 

Mt Deae Sir: — You remember my speaking to you of what I called 
your ovcrcautiousness. Are you not overcautious when you assume 
that you cannot do what the enemy is constantly doing ? Should you 
not claim to be at least his equal in prowess, and act upon the claim? 

As I understand, you telegraphed Gen. Ilalleck that you cannot sub- 
sist your army at Winchester unless the railroad from Harper's Ferry 
to that point be put in working order. But tlie enemy does now sub- 
sist his army at "Winchester, at a distance nearly twice as great from 
railroad transportation as you would have to do without the railroad 
last named. He now wagons from Culpepper Court-House, which is 
just about twice as far as you would have to do from Harper's Ferry. 
He is certainly not more than half as well provided with wagons as 
you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to have the advantage 
of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Witichoster ; but it wastes all the 
remainder of autumn to give it to you, and, in fact, ignores the question 
of time, which cannot and must not be ignored. 

Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you know, is, "to 
operate upon the enemy's communications as much as possible, without 
exposing your own." Ton seem to act as if this appHes against you, but 
can not apply in your favor. Change positions with tlie enemy, and 
think you not he would break your communication with Richmond 
within the next twenty-four hours? You dread his going into Penn- 
sylvania. But if he does so in fuU force, he gives up his communica- 
tions to you absolutely, and you have nothing to do but to follow and 
ruin him ; if he does so with less than full force, faU upon and beat 
what is left behind all the easier. 

Exclusive of the water line, you are now nearer Richmond than the 
enemy is by the route tliat you can and he must take. Why can you 
not reach there before him, unless you admit that he is more than your 
equal on a march ? His route is tlie arc of a circle, while yours is the 
chord. The roads are as good on yours as on his. 

You know I desired, but did not order, you to cross the Potomac 
below instead of above the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. My idea was, 
that this would at once menace the enemy's communications, which I 
would seize if he would permit. If he should move northward, I would 
follow him closely, holding his communications. If he should prevent 
our seizing his communications, and move toward Richmond, I would 
press closely to him, fight hun if a favorable opportunity should present, 
and at least try to beat him to Richmond on tho inside track. I say 



282 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

" try;" if we never try, we shall never succeed. If he make a stand 
at Winchester, moving neither north nor south, I would fight him there, 
on the idea that if we cannot beat him when he bears the wastage of 
coming to us, we never can when we bear the wastage of going to 
him. This proposition is a simple truth, and is too important to be lost 
sight of for a moment. In coming to us, he tenders us an advantage 
which we should not wai^. We should not so operate as to merely 
drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere, or fail finally, 
we can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If we cannot 
beat the enemy where he now is, we never can, he again being -ttithin 
the intrenchments of Richmond. Recurring to the idea of going to 
Richmond on the inside track, the facility of supplying from the side 
away from the enemy is remarkable, as it were, by the different spokes 
of a wheel extending from the hub toward the rim, and this whether 
you move directly by the chord, or on the inside arc, hugging the Blue 
Ridge more closely. The chord-line, as you see, carries you by Aldie, 
llaymarket, and Fredericksburg, and you see how turnpikes, railroads, 
and finally the Potomac by Aquia Creek, meet you at all points from 
Washington. The same, only the lines lengthened a little, if you press 
closer to the Blue Ridge part of the way. The gaps through the Blue 
Ridge I understand to be about the following distances from Harper's 
Ferry, to wit: Yestal's, five miles; Gregory's, thirteen; Snicker's, 
eighteen; Ashby's, twenty-eight; Manassas, thi'-ty-eight- Chester, forty- 
five ; and Thornton's, fifty-three. I should think it preferable to take the 
route nearest the enemy, disabling him to make an important move 
without your knowledge, and compelling him to keep his forces together 
for dread of you. The gaps would enable you to attack if you 
should wish. For a great part of the way you would be practically 
between the enemy and both Washington and Richmond, enabling us 
to spare you the greatest number of troops from here. When, at length, 
running to Richmond ahead of him enables him to move this way, if ho 
does so, turn and attack him in the rear. But I think he should be 
engaged long before such point is reached. It is all easy if our troops 
march as weQ as the enemy, and it is unmanly to say they cannot do 
it. This letter is in no sense an order. 

Yours, truly, A. Lincoln. 

Major-Gen. McClellan. 

For over a fortniglit longer Gen. McCIolIan delayed any 
attempt to move his army in obedience to tlie President's 



THE PEKSIDEXT PROTESTS AGAINST DELAY. 283 

order. He spent this interval in complaints of inadequate 
supplies, and in incessant demands for re-enforcements ; and 
on the 21st inquired whether it was still the President's wish 
that he should march upon the enemy at once, or await the 
arrival of fresh horses. He was told in reply that the order 
of the 6th was unchanged, and that while the President did not 
expect impossibilities, he was " very anxious that all this good 
■weather should not be wasted in inactivity." Gen. McClcllan 
states in his report that he inferred, from the tenor of this 
dispatch, that it was left to his own judgment whether 
it would be safe for the army to advance or not; and 
he accordingly fixed upon the first of November as the 
earliest date at which the forward movement could be com- 
menced. On the 25th he complained to the Department 
of the condition of his cavalry, saying that the horses were 
fatigued and greatly troubled with sore tongue ; whereupon 
the President addressed him the following inquiry : 

War Department, Washington-, Oct. 25, 18G2. 
I have just read your dispafch about sore-tongue and fatigued horses. 
Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done 
since the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything ? 

A. Lincoln. 

The General replied that they had been engaged in making 
reconnoissances, scouting, and picketing, to which the Presi- 
dent thus rejoined : 

Executive Mansion, ) 

Washington, Oct. 2Glh, 1862. J 
Tours in reply to mine about horses received. Of course you know 
the facts better than I. Still, two considerations remain: Stuart's 
cavalry outmarched ours, having certainly done more marked service on 
the Peninsula and everywhere since. Secondly: will not a movement 
of our army be a relief to the cavalry, compelling the enemy to concen- 
trate instead of "foraging" in squads everywhere? But I am so 
rejoiced to learn from your dispatch to General Halleck that you began 
crossing the river this morning. 

A. Lincoln. 



284 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

The General replied in a long dispatch, rehearsing in detail 
tte labors performed by his cavalry, to which he thought the 
President had done injustice. This note elicited the following 

reply : 

ExECUTiTE Mansion-, ) 

"Washington, Oct. 2Gth, 1862. J 
Yours of yesterday received. Most certainly I intend no injustice to 
an}', and if I have done any I deeply regret it. To be told, after more 
than five weeks total inaction of the army, and during which period we 
had sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting 
in the whole to 7,918, that the cavalry horses were too much fatigued to 
move, presented a very cheerless, almost hopeless, prospect for the 
future, and it may have forced something of impatience into my dis- 
patches. If not recruited and rested then, when could they ever be ? 
I suppose the river is rising, and I am glad to believe you are crossing. 

A. Lincoln. 

The General next started, as a new topic of discussion, the 
extent to which the line of the Potomac should be guarded 
after he left it, so as to cover Maryland and Pennsylvania 
from further invasions. He thought strong garrisons should 
be left at certain points, complained that his forces were 
inadequate, and made some suggestion concerning the position 
of the rebel army under Bragg, which led General Ilalleck in 
reply to remind him that Bragg was four hundred miles away, 
while Lee was but twenty. On the 27th the General tele- 
graphed to the President that it was necessary to "fill up the 
old regiments of his command before taking them again into 
action," to which the President thus replied : 

Executive Mansion, ) 

Washington. Oct. 21th, 1862. [ 
Your dispatch of three p. M. to-day, in regard to fiUmg up old regi- 
ments with drafted men, is received, and the request therein shall be 
complied with as far as practicable. And now I ask a distinct answer 
to tho question, *' Is it your purpose not to go into action again till the 
men now being drafted in the States are incorporated in tho old 
regiments?" A. Lincoln 



GEIS^EKAL m'clELLAN KELIETED FKOM COMilAND. 285 

The General, in reply, explained that the lanfruage of tlie 
dispatch, which was prepared by one of his aids, had incor- 
rectly expressed his meaning, and that he should not postpone 
the advance until the regiments were filled by drafted men. 
The army was gradually crossed over, and on the 5th of No- 
vember the General announced to the President that it was all 
on the Virginia side. This was just a month after the order 
to cross had been given — the enemy meantime having taken 
possession of all the strong points, and falling back, at his 
leisure, towards his base of operations. These unaccountable 
delays in the movement of the army created the most intense 
dissatisfaction in the public mind, and completely exhausted 
the patience of the Government. Accordingly, on the 5th of 
November, an order was issued relieving General McCIellan 
from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and directing 
General Burnside to take his place. 



Thus closed a most remarkable chapter in the history of the 
war. For over fifteen months General McCIellan had com- 
manded the Army of the Potomac, the largest and most 
powerful array ever marshalled upon this continent — consisting 
of 160,000 men, and furnished, in lavish profusion, .with 
every thing requisite for effective service. Throughout the 
whole of this long period that army had been restrained by its 
commander from attacking the enemy : except in the single 
instance of Antietam, where, moreover, there was no possi- 
bility of avoiding an engagement, every battle which it fought 
was on the defensive. According to the sworn testimony of 
his own commanders. General McCIellan might have over- 
whelmed the rebel forces arrayed against him at Manassas, at 
Yorktown, after Williamsburgh, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and 
Antietam ; but on every one of these occasions he carefully 
forbore to avail himself of the superiority of his position, and 
gave the enemy ample time to prepare for more complete and 



286 PEESiDEifT Lincoln's ADiiiNiSTKATiON. 

effective resistance. It is no part of our present purpose to 
inquire into the causes of this most extraordinary conduct on 
the part of a commander to whom, more completely than to 
any other, were entrusted the destinies of the nation during 
the most critical period of its existence. Whether he acted 
from an innate disability, or upon a political theory— whether 
he intentionally avoided a decisive engagement in order to ac- 
complish certain political results which he and Lis secret ad- 
visers deemed desirable, or whether he was, by the native 
constitution of his mind, unable to meet the gigantic responsi- 
bilities of his position when the critical moment of trial arrived, 
are points which the public and posterity will decide from an 
unbiased study of the evidence which his acts and his words 
afford. As the record we have given shows, President 
Lincoln lost no opportunity of urging upon him more prompt 
and decisive action, while in no instance did he withhold from 
him any aid which it was in the power of the Government to 
give. 

Nothing can show more clearly the disposition of the Presi- 
dent to sustain him to the utmost, and to protect him from 
the rapidly rising tide of public censure and discontent with 
liis ruinous and inexplicable delays, than the following remarks 
made by him at a war meeting held at Washington on the Gth 
of August, after the retreat to the James River, and just be- 
fore the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula : 

Fellow-Citizens ; I believe there is no precedent for my appearing 
before you on this occasion, but it is also true that there is no prece- 
dent for your being here yourselves, and I offer, in justification of my- 
self and of you, that, upon examination, I have found nothing in the 
Constitution against it. I, however, have an impression that there are 
younger gentlemen who will entertain you better, and better address 
your understanding than I wiD or could, and therefore I propose but to 
detain you a moment longer. 

I am very little inclined on any occasion to say any thing unn-ss T 
Jiupo to pioduce some good by it. The only thing I think of just now 



A SPEECH BY TUE PKESIDEJS^T. 287 

not likely to be better said by some one else, is a matter in wliicli we 
have heard some other persons blamed for what I did myself. There 
has been a very wido-sjiread attempt to have a quarrel between General 
McClellan and the Secretary of War. Now, I occupy a position that 
enables me to observe, that these two gentlemen are not nearly so deep 
in the quarrel as some pretending to be their friends. General McClel- 
lan's attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can- 
not but wish to be successful, and I hope he will — and the Secretary of 
War is in precisely the same situation. If the military commanders in 
the field cannot bo successful, not only the Secretary of War, but my- 
self, for the time being the master of them both, cannot but be failures. 
I know General McClellan wishes to be successful, and I know he does 
not wish it any more than the Secretary of War for him, and both of 
them together no more than I wish it. Sometunes we have a dispute 
about how many men General McClellan has had, and those who would 
disparage him say that he has had a very large number, and those who 
would disparage the Secretary of War insist that General McCleUan has 
had a very small number. The basis for this is, there is always a wide 
diflference, and on this occasion, perhaps a wider one than usual, between 
the grand total on McClellan's roUs and the men actually fit for duty; 
and those who would disparage him talk of the grand total on paper, 
and those who would disparage the Secretary of War talk of those at 
present fit for duty. General McClellan has sometimes asked for things 
that the Secretary of War did not give him. General McClellan is not to 
blame for asking what he wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War 
is not to blame for not giving when he had none to give. And I say 
hero, as far as I know, the Secretary of War has withheld no one thing 
at any time in my power to give him. I have no accusation against 
him. I believe he is a brave and able man, and I stand here, as justice 
requires me to do, to take upon myself what has been charged on tiie 
Secretary of War, as withholding from him. 

I have talked longer than I expected to do, and now I avail myself 
of my privilege of saying no more. 



288 PKESLDENT LLJfCOLN S ADMIXISTKATION. 



CHAPTER YII. 

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE WEST AND SOUTH, AND THE 
GENERAL CONDUCT OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN 1862. 

In every other section of the country, except in Eastern 
Virginia, the military operations of the year 1862 were marked 
by promptitude and vigor, and attended by success to the 
National arras. Early in February a lodgment had been 
effected by the expedition under General Burnside on the 
coast of North Carolina, and on the 19th of January the 
^•ictory of Mill Springs had released Western Kentucky from 
rebel rule, and opened a path for the armies of the Union into 
East Tennessee. The President's order of January 27th, for 
an advance of all the forces of the Government on the 22d of 
February, had been promptly followed by the capture of Forts 
Henry and Donelson on the Cumberland River, which led to 
the evacuation of Bowling Green, the surrender of Nashville, 
and the fall of Columbus, the rebel stronghold on the Missis- 
sippi. Fort Pulaski, which guarded the entrance to Savannah, 
was taken, after eighteen hours bombardment, on the 12th of 
April, and the whole west coast of Florida had been occupied 
by our forces. By the skilful strategy of General Ilalleck, 
commanding the Western Department, seconded by the vigor- 
ous activity of General Curtis, the rebel commander in Mis- 
souri, General Price, had been forced to retreat, leaving the 
whole of that State in our hands ; and he ■was badly beaten in 
a subsequent engagement at Sugar Creek in Arkansas. On the 
1 Uh, Island No. 10, commanding the passage of the Mis^^is- 



SUCCESSES IX THE SOUTHWEST. 289 

sippi, was taken by General Pope, and on the 4th of June Forts 
Pillow and Randolph, still lower down, were occupied by our 
forces. On the 6th the city of Memphis was surrendered by 
the rebels. Soon after the fall of Nashville a formidable 
expedition had ascended the Tennessee River, and being joined 
by all the available Union forces in that vicinity, the whole 
under command of General Ilallcck, prepared to give battle 
to the rebel army whiclx, swelled by large re-enforcements 
from every quarter, was posted in the vicinity of Corinth, 
ninety miles east of Memphis, intending by a sudden attack to 
break the force of the Union army, which was sweeping 
steadily down upon them from the field of its recent con- 
quests. The rebels opened the attack with great fury and 
ctlect, on the morning of the 6th of April, at Pittsburg Land- 
ing, three miles in advance of Corinth. The fight lasted 
■nearly all day, the rebels having decidedly the advantage ; 
but in their final onset they were driven back, and the next 
day our army, strengthened by the opportune arrival of 
GeneraJ Buell, completed what proved to be a signal and most 
important victory. When news of it reached Washington 
President Lincoln issued the following proclamation : 

It 1ms pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the 
land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and 
at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign 
intervention and invasion. 

It is tlierefore recommended to the people of the United States, that 
at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of pubUc 
worship, which shall occur after the notice of this Proclamation shall 
have been received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks to 
our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings ; that they then and 
there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all those who have been 
brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and 
civQ war ; and that they reverently invoke the Divine guidance for our 
national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the 
restoration of peace, liarmony, and unity tliroughout our borders, and 
13 



290 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries 
of the earth. 

In vvitness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of "Washington, this tenth day of April, in the year of 
[l. s.] our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of 
the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. 

Abraham Lixcoln. 
By the President : 

VTm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

On the 28th of May the rebels evacuated Corinth, and were 
pushed southward by our pursuing forces for some twenty-five 
or thirty miles. General Mitchell, by a daring and most 
gallant enterprise in the latter part of April, took possession 
o^ Huntsville in Alabama. In February a formidable naval 
expedition had been fitted out under Commodore Farragut 
for the capture of New Orleans ; and on the 18th of April the 
attack commenced upon Forts Jackson and St. Philip, by 
which the passage of the Mississippi below the city is guarded. 
After six days' bombardment the whole fleet passed the forts 
on the night of the 23d, under a terrible fire from both; and 
on the 25th the rebel General Lovell, who had command of the 
military defences of the city, withdrew, and Commodore Farra- 
gut took possession of the town, which he retained until the 
arrival of General Butler on the 1st of May, who thereupon 
entered upon the discharge of his duties as commander of that 
Department. 

During the summer a powerful rebel army, under General 
Bragg, invaded Kentucky for tlie double purpose of obtaining 
supplies and affording a rallying point for what they believed 
to be the secession sentiment of the State. In the accom- 
plishment of the former object they were successful, but not in 
the latter. They lost more while in the State from desertions 
than they gained by recruits ; and after a battle at Perry vilie 
on the 7th of October they began their retreat. On the 5th 



RECOGNIZED OBJECTS OF THE WAE. 291 

of October a severe battle was fought at Corinth, from which 
a powerful rebel army attempted to drive our troops under 
General Rosecrans, but they were repulsed with very heavy loss- 
es, and the campaign in Kentucky and Tennessee was virtually 
at an end. A final effort of the enemy in that region led to a 
severe engagement at Murfreesborough on the 31st of Decem- 
ber, which resulted in the defeat of the rebel forces, and in 
relieving Tennessee from the presence of the rebel armies. 

In all the military operations of this year especial care had 
been taken by the Generals in command of the several De- 
partments, acting under the general direction of the Govern- 
ment, to cause it to be distinctly understood that the object of 
the war was the preservation of the Union and the restoration 
of the authority of the Constitution. The rebel authorities, 
both civil and military, lost no opportunity of exciting the 
fears and resentments of the people of the Southern States, by 
ascribing to tlie National Government designs of the most 
ruthless and implacable hostility to their institutions and their 
persons. It was strenuously represented that the object of 
the war was to rob the Southern people of their rights and 
their property, and especially to set free their slaves. The 
Government did every thing in its power to allay the appre- 
hensions and hostilities which these statements were calculated 
to produce. General Garfield, while in Kentucky, just before 
the victory of Mill Springs, issued on the 16th of January an 
address to the citizens of that section of the State, exhorting 
them to return to their allegiance to the Federal Government, 
which had never made itself injuriously felt by any one among 
them, and promising them full protection for their persons and 
their property, and full reparation for any wrongs they might 
have sustained. After the battle of Mill Springs the Secretary 
of War,imder the direction of the President, issued an order 
of thanks to the soldiers engaged in it, in which he again 
announced that the " purpose of the war was to attack, pursue 



292 PRESIDENT LI>XOLN S AD:MIXISTEATI0X. 

and destroy a rebellious enemy, and to deliver the country 
from danger menaced by traitors." On the 20th of November, 
1861, General Halleck, coramauding the Department of the 
Missouri, on the eve of the advance into Tennessee, issued an 
order enjoining upou the troops the necessity of discipline 
and of order, and calling on them to prove by their acts that 
they came " to restore, not to violate the Constitution and the 
laws," and that the people of the South, under the flag of the 
Union, should " enjoy the same protection of life and property 
as in former days." " It does not belong to the military," 
said this order, " to decide upon the relation of master and 
slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil courts. No 
fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or 
camps except when specially ordered by the General command- 
ing."* So also General Burnside, when about to land on the 
soil of North Carolina, issued an order, February 3d, 1262, 
calling upon the soldiers of his army to remember that they 
were there "to support the Constitution and the laws, to put 
down rebellion, and to protect the persons and property of the 
loyal and peaceable citizens of the State," And on the 18th jf 

* In regard to this order, wliich was afterwards severely criticised 
in Congress, General Halleck wrote the following letter of explanation : 

Head-Quarters, Department of the Missouri, ) 
St. Louis, December 8, 1861. ) 

My Dear Colonel: Yours of the 4th instant is just received. Or- 
der No. 3 was, in my mind, clearly a military necessity. Unauthorized 
persons, black or while, free or slaves, must be kept out of our camps, 
unless we are willing to publish to the enemy every thing we do, or in- 
tend to do. It was a military, and not a political order. 

I am ready to carry out any lawful in.structions in regard to fugitive 
slaves, which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which 
Congress may pass. But I cannot make law, and will not violate it. 
You know my private opinion on the policy of conflsoating the slave 
property of the rebt-ls in arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be 
certain that I shall enforce it. Perliaps my policy as to tlic^ treatment 
of rebels and their property is as well set out in Order No. 13, issued 
the day your letter was written, as 1 could now describe it. 

Hon. F. F. Blair, Washington. 



RELATIONS OP THE WAR TO SLAVERY. 293 

the same month, after Fort Henry and Roanoke Island had 
fallen into our hands, Commodore Goldsborough and General 
Burnside issued a joint proclamation, denouncing as false and 
slanderous the attempt of the rebel leaders to impose on the 
credulity of the Southern people by telling them of "our desire 
to destroy their freedom, demolish their property, and liberate 
their slaves," and declaring that the Government asked only 
that its authority might be recognized, and that " in no way 
or manner did it desire to interfere with their laws, consti- 
tutionally established, their institutions of any kind whatever, 
their jJi'operty of any sort, or their usages in any respect." 
And on the 1st of March General Curtis in Arkansas had 
addressed a proclamation to the people of that State, de- 
nouncing as false and calumnious the statements widely cir- 
culated of the designs and sentiments of the Union armies, 
and declaring that they sought only " to put down rebellion 
by making war against those in arms, their aiders and 
abettors"— and that they came to "vindicate the Constitution, 
and to preserve and perpetuate civil and religious liberty 
under a flag that was embalmed in the blood of our revolu- 
tionary fathers." In all this the Government adhered, with 
just and rigorous fidelity, to the principles it had adopted for 
its conduct at the outset of the war; and in its anxiety to 
avoid all cause of complaint and all appearance of justification 
for those who were in arms against its authority, it incurred 
the distrust and even the denunciation of the more zealous and 
vehement among its own friends and supporters in the North- 
ern States. 

On the 22d of July, in order to secure unity of action 
among the commanders of the several military department;?, 
upon the general use to be made of rebel property, the Presi- 
dent directed the issue of the following order : 



294 PRESIDENT Lincoln's ADillNISTEATION. 

War Departmext, Washington, July 22, 1S62. 

First. Ordered that military commanders within the States of Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Texas, and Arkansas, in an orderly manner seize and use any property, 
real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several 
commands, for supplies, or for other military purposes ; and that while 
property may be destroyed for proper military objects, none shall bo 
destroyed in wantonness or malice. 

Second. That military and naval commanders shall employ as laborers, 
within and from said States, so many persons of African descent as can 
be advantageously used for mihtary or naval purposes, giving them 
reasonable wages for their labor. 

Third. That, as to both property, and persons of African descent, 
accounts shall be kept sufiBciently accurate and in detail to show 
quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and surh persons 
shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in 
proper case?; and the several departments of this Government shall 
attend to and perform their appropriate parts towards the execution of 
these orders. 

By order of the President : 

Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War. 

And on the 25th of July he issued the following proclama- 
tion, warning the people of the Southern States against per- 
sisting in their rebellion, under the penalties prescribed by the 
confiscation act passed by Congress at its preceding session : 

By Order of the President of the United States. 

A PKOCLAilATION. 

In pursuance of the sixth section of the Act of Congress, entitled " An 
Act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize 
and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved 
July nth, 1862, and which Act, and the joint resolution explanatory 
thereof, are herewith published, I, Abh.vhaii Lincoln, President of the 
United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the 
contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, 
countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion, or any rebellion, 
against the Government of the United States, and to return to their 
proper allegiance to the United States, on pain of the forfeiture and 
seizures as within and by said sixth section provided. 



OUR foreig:n relations. 295 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be aflBxed. 

Done at the city of Wasliington, this twenty-fifth day of July, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, 
[l. s.] and of the independence of the United States the eighty- 
seventh. 

Abraham Lincoln. 
By the President : 

William H. Sewaed, Secretary of State. 

Our relations with foreign nations during the year 1862 
continued to be in the main satisfactory. The President held 
throughout, in all his intercourse with European powers, the 
same firm and decided language in regard to the rebellion 
which had characterized the correspondence of the previous 
year. Our Minister in London, with vigilance and ability, 
pressed upon tlie British Government the duty of preventing 
the rebel authorities from building and fitting out vessels of 
war in English ports to prey upon the commerce of the United 
States ; but in every instance these remonstrances were with- 
out practical effect. The Government could never be con- 
vinced that the evidence in any specific case was sufficient to 
warrant its interference, and thus one vessel after another was 
allowed to leave British ports, go to some other equally 
neutral locality and take on board munitions of war, and enter 
upon its career of piracy in the rebel service. As early as the 
18th of February, 1862, Mr. Adams had called the attention of 
Earl Russell to the fact that a steam gunboat, afterwards 
called the Oreto, was being built in a Liverpool ship-yard, 
under the supervision of well-known agents of the rebel Gov- 
ernment, and evidently intended for the rebel service. The 
Foreign Secretary replied that the vessel was intended for the 
use of parties in Palermo, Sicily, and that there was no reason 
to suppose she was intended for any service hostile to the 
United States. Mr. Adams sent evidence to show that the 
claim of being designed for service in Sicily was a mere 



296 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administkation. 

pretext; but he failed, by this dispatch, as in a subsequent 
personal conference with Earl Russell on the 15th of April, to 
induce him to take any steps for her detention. She sailed 
soon after, and was next heard of at the British "neutral" port 
of Nassau, where she was seized by the authorities at the 
instance of the American consul, but released by the same 
authorities on the arrival of Captain Serames to take command 
of her as a Confederate privateer. In October an intercepted 
letter was sent to Earl Russell by Mr. Adams, written by the 
Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate Government, to a 
person in England, complaining that he had not followed the 
Oreto on her departure from England and taken command of 
her, in accordance with his original appointment. In June 
Mr. Adams called Earl Russell's attention to another powerful 
war-steamer, then in progress of construction in the ship-yard 
of a member of the House of Commons, evidently intended 
for the rebel service. This complaint went through the usual 
formalities, was referred to the " Lords Commissioners of her 
Majesty's Treasury," who reported in due time that they could 
discover no evidence suiBcient to warrant the detention of the 
vessel. Soon afterwards, however, evidence was produced 
which was sufficient to warrant the collector of the port of 
Liverpool in ordering her detention ; but before the necessary 
formalities could be gone through with, and through delays 
caused, as Earl Russell afterwards explained, by the " sudden 
development of a malady of the Queen's advocate, totally in- 
capacitating him for the transaction of business," the vessel, 
whose managers were duly advertised of every thing that was 
going on, slipped out of port, took on board an armament in 
the Azores, and entered the rebel service as a privateer. Our 
Government subsequently notified the British Government 
that it would be lield responsible for all the damage which 
this vessel, known first as " 290," and afterwards as the Ala- 
bama, might inflict on American commerce. 



PROPOSED MEDIATIOX OF THE FRENCH EMPEROR. 297 

Discussions were had upun the refusal of the British 
authorities to permit American vessels of war to take in coal 
at Nassau, upon the systematic attempts of British merchants 
to violate our blockade of Southern ports,' and upon the re- 
capture, by the crew, of the Emily St. Pierre, which had been 
seized in attempting to run the blockade at Charleston, and 
was on her way as a prize to the port of New York. The 
British Government vindicated her rescue as sanctioned by 
the principles of international law. 

The only incident of special importance which occurred, 
during the year in our foreign relations, grew out of an attempt 
on the part of the Emperor of the French to secure a joint 
effort at mediation between the Grovernment of the United 
States and the rebel authorities, on the part of G-reat Britain 
and Russia in connection with his own Government. Rumors 
of such an intention on the part of the Emperor led Mr. 
Dayton to seek an interview with the Minister for Foreign 
Affairs on the 6th of November, at which indications of such 
a purpose were apparent. The attempt failed, as both the 
other powers consulted declined to join in any such action. 
The French Government thereupon determined to take action 
alone, and on the 9th of January, 1863, the Foreign Secretary 
wrote to the French Minister at Washington a dispatch, 
declaring the readiness of the French Emperor to do any 
thing in his power which might tend towards the termination 
of the war, and suggesting that " nothing would hinder the 
Government of the United States, without renouncing the 
advantages which it believes it can attain by a continuation of 
the war, from entering upon informal conferences with the 
Confederates of the South, in case they should show them- 
selves disposed thereto." The specific advantages of such a 
conference, and the mode in which it was to be brought about, 
were thus set forth in this dispatch: 
13* 



298 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX'S ADMI^^STKATJON. 

Representatives or commissioners of the two parties could assemble 
at such point as it should be deemed proper to designate, and which 
could, for this purpose, be declared neutral. Reciprocal complaints 
would be examined into at this meeting. In place of the accusations 
which North and South mutually cast upon each other at this time, 
would be substituted an argumentative discussion of the interests which 
divide them. They would seek out by means of well-ordered and pro- 
found deliberations whether the^ interests are definitively irreconcila- 
lile — whether separation is an extreme which can no longer be avoided, 
or whether the memories of a common existence, whether the ties of 
any kind which have made of the North and of the South one sole and 
whole Federative State, and have borne them on to so high a degree of 
prosperity, are not more powerful than the causes which have placed 
arms in the hands of the two populations. A negotiation, the object of 
which would be thus determinate, would not involve any of the objec- 
tions raised against the diplomatic interventions of Europe, and, without 
giving birth to the same Lopes as the immediate conclusion of an armis- 
tice, would exercise a happy influence on the march of events. 

"Why, therefore, should not a combination which respects all the relations 
of the United States obtain the approbation of the Federal Government ? 
Persuaded on our part that it is in conformity with their true interests, 
we do uot hesitate to recommend it to their attention ; and, not having 
sought in the project of a mediation of the maritime powers of Europe 
any vain display of influence, we would applaud, with entire freedom 
from all susceptibility of self-esteem, the opening of a negotiation which 
would invite the two populations to discuss, without the co-operation of 
Europe, the solution of their difference. 

The reply which the President directed to be made to this 
proposition embraces so many points of permanent interest 
and importance in connection with his Administration, that 
we give it in full. It was as follows : 

Department of State, WAsmNGTOS, Feb. 6, 1863. 
Sir: The intimation given in your dispatch of January 15th, that I 
might expect a special visit from M. Mercior, has been realized. He 
cahod on the 3d iustaut, and gave mo a copy of a dispatch which he 
had just then received from M. Drouyn do I'Huya under the date of the 
9th of January. 



REPLY TO THE FKENCU PliOPOSAL. 299 

I have taken the President's instructions, and I now proceed to give 
you his views upon the subject in question. 

It has been considered with seriousness, resulting from the reflection 
that the people of France are known to be faultless sharers with the 
American nation in the misfortunes and calamities of our unhappy 
civil war ; nor do we on this, any more than on other occasions, forget 
the traditional friendship of the t.wo countries, which we unhesitatingly 
believe has inspired the counsels that M. Drouyn de I'iluys has im- 
parted. 

He says, " the Federal Government does not despair, we know, of 
giving more active impulse to hostilities;" and again he remarks, "the 
protraction of the struggle, in a word, has not shaken the confidence (of 
the Federal Government) in the definitive success of its eflbrts." 

Tliese passages seem to me to do unintentional injustice to the lan- 
guage, whether confidential or public, in which this Government has 
constantly spoken on the subject of the war. It certainly has had and 
avowed only one purpose — a determination to preserve the integrity of 
the country. So far from admitting any laxity of eflbrt, or betraying 
any despondency, the Government has, on the contrary, borne itself 
cheerfully in all vicissitudes, with unwavering confidence in an early 
and complete triumph of the national cause. Now, when we are, in a 
manner, invited by a friendly power to review the twenty -one months' 
history of the conflict, we find no occasion to abate that confidence. 
Through such an alternation of victories and defeats as is the appointed 
incident of every war, the land and naval forces of the United States 
have steadily advanced, reclaiming from the insurgents the ports, forts, 
and posts wliich they had treacherously seized before the strife actually 
began, and even before it was seriously apprehended. So many of 
the States and districts which the insurgents included in the field of 
their projected exclusive slaveholding dominions liave already been re- 
established under the flag of the Union, tliat they now retain only the 
States of Georgia, Alabama, and Texas, with half of Virginia, half of 
North Carolina, and two thirds of South Carolina, half of Mississippi 
and one-third respectively of Arkansas and Louisiana. The national 
forces hold even this small territory in close blockade and siege. 

This Government, if required, does not hesitate to submit its achieve- 
ments to the test of comparison; and it maintains that in no part of the 
world, and in no times, ancient or modern, has a nation, when rendered 
all unready for combat by the enjoyment of eighty years of almost un- 
broken peace, so quickly awakened at the alarm of sedition, put forth 



300 rUESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

energies so vigorous, and achieved successes so signal and efiective as 
those which have marked the progress of this contest on the part of the 
Union. 

M. Drouyn de I'lluys, I fear, has taken other hght than the corre- 
spondence of this Government for his guidance in ascertaining its temper 
and firmness. He lias probably read of divisions of sentiment among 
those who hold themselves forth as organs of pubUc opinion here, and 
has given to them an undue importance. It is to be remembered that 
this is a nation of thirty millions, civilly divided into forty-one States and 
Territories, which cover an expanse hardly less than Europe ; that the 
people are a pure democracy, exercising everywhere the utmost freedom 
of speech and suO'rage ; that a great crisis necessarily produces vehe- 
ment as well as profound debate, with sharp collisions of individual, 
local, and sectional interests, sentiments, and ambitions ; and that this 
heat of controversy is increased by the intervention of speculations, 
interests, prejudices, and passions from every other part of the civilized 
world. It is, however, through such debates that the agreement of the 
nation upon any subject is habitually attained, its resolutions formed, 
:!ud its policy established. While there has been much difference of 
popular opinion and favor concerning the agents who shall carry on the 
war, the principles on which it shall be waged, and the means with 
which it shall be prosecuted, M. Drouyn de FHuys has only to 
refer to the statute book of Congress and the Executive ordi- 
nances to learn that the national activity has hitherto been, and yet 
is, as efficient as that of any other nation, whatever its form of gov- 
ernment, ever was, under circumstances of equally grave import to 
its peace, safety, and welfare. Not one voice has been raised any- 
where, out of tlie immediate field of the insurrection, in favor of foreign 
intervention, of mediation, of arbitration, or of compromise, with the 
rehnquishment of one acre of the national domain, or the surrender of 
even one constitutional franchise. At the same time, it is manifest to 
the world that our resources are yet abundant, and our credit adequate 
to the existing emergency. 

What M. Drouyn do I'lIuys suggests is that this Government shall 
appoint commissioners to meet, on neutral ground, commissioners of thy 
insurgents. Ho supposes that in the conferences to be thus held, re- 
ciprocal complaints could be discussed, and in place of the accusations 
which the North and South now mutually cast upon each other, the 
conferees would bo engaged with discussions of the interests which 
divide tliera. lie assumes, further, that the commissioners would seek.. 



SECKETART SEWARd'S DISPATCH. 301 

by means of well-ordered and profound deliberation, whether these 
interests are definitively irreconcilable, whether separation is an ex- 
treme that can no longer be avoided, or whether the memories of a 
common existence, the ties of eveiy kind which have made the North 
and the South one whole Federative State, and have borne them on to . 
so high a degree of prosperity, are not more powerful than the causes 
which have placed arms in the hands of the two populations. 

The suggestion is not an extraordinary one, and it may well have 
been thought by the Emperor of the French, in the earnestness of hi3 
benevolent desire for the restoration of peace, a feasible one. But 
when M. Drouyn de I'lluys shall come to review it in the light in which 
it must necessarily be examined in this country, I think he can hardly 
fail to perceive that it amounts to nothing less than a proposition that, 
while this Government is engaged in suppressing an armed insurrection, 
with the purpose of maintaining the constitutional national authority, 
and preserving the integrity of the country, it shall enter into diplo- 
matic discussion with the insurgents upon the questions whether that 
authority shall not be renounced, and whether the country shall uot be 
delivered over to disunion, to be quickly foUowed by ever-increasing 
anarchy. 

If it were i)ossible for the Government of the United States to com- 
promise the national authority so far as to enter into such debates, it is 
not easy to perceive what good results could be obtained by them. 

The commissioners must agree in recommending either that the Union 
shall stand or that it shall be voluntarily dissolved; or else they must 
leave the vital question unsettled, to abide at last the fortunes of the 
war. The Government has not shut out the knowledge of the present 
temper, any more than of the past purposes of the insurgents. There 
is not the least ground to suppose that the controlling actors would be 
persuaded at this moment, by any arguments which national commis- 
sioners could ofler, to forego the ambition that has impelled them to the 
disloyal position they are occupying. Any commissioners who should 
be appointed by these actors, or through their dictation or influence, 
must enter the conference imbued with the spirit and pledged to the 
personal fortunes of the insurgent chiefs. The loyal people in the in- 
surrectionary States would be unheard, and any offer of peace by this 
Government, on the condition of the maintenance of the Union, must 
necessarily be rejected. 

On the other hand, as I have already intimated, this Government has 
not the least thought of relinquishirtg the trust which has been con- 



302 PBEsiDENT Lincoln's administration. 

tided to it by tlie nation under the most solemn of all political sanc- 
tions ; and if it had any such thought, it would still have abundant 
reason to know that peace proposed at the cost of dissolution would be 
immediately, unreservedly, and indignantly rejected by the American 
people. It is a great mistake that European statesmen make, if they 
suppose this people are demoralized. Whatever, iu the case of an in- 
surrection, the people of France, or of Great Britain, or of Switzerland, 
or of the Netherlands would do to save their national existence, no 
matter how the strife might bo regarded by or might afiect foreign 
nations, just so much, and certainly no less, the people of the United 
States wiU do, if necessary to save for the common benefit the region 
which is bounded by the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts, and by the 
shores of the Gulfs of St. Lawrence and Mexico, together with the free 
and common navigation of the Rio Grande, Missouri, Arkansas, Missis- 
sippi, Ohio, St. Lawrence, Hudson, Delaware, Potomac, and other 
natural highways by which this land, which to them is at once a land 
of inheritance and a land of promise, is opened and watered. Even if 
the agents of the American people now exercising their power should, 
through fear or faction, fall below this height of the national virtue, 
they would be speedQj', yet constitutionally, replaced by others of 
sterner character and patriotism. 

I must be allowed to say, also, that M. Drouj-n de THuys errs in his 
description of the parties to the present conflict. "We have here, in 
the political sense, no Xorth and South, no Northern and Southern 
States. We have an insurrectionary party, which is located chiefly 
upon and adjacent to the shore of tlie Gulf of Mexico ; and we have, 
on the other hand, a loyal people, who constitute not only Northern 
States, but also Eastern, Middle, Western, and Southern States. 

I have on many occasions heretofore submitted to the French Gov- 
ernment the President's views of the interests, and the ideas more 
eflective for the time than even interests, which lie at the bottom of 
the determination of the American Government and people to maintain 
the Federal Union. The President has done the same thing in hi3 
Messages and other public declarations. I refrain, therefore, from re- 
viewing that argument in connection with the existing question. 

M. Drouyn do I'Huys draws to his aid the conferences which took 
place between the Colonies and Great Britain in our Revolutionary 
War. He will allow us to assume that action in the crisis of a nation 
must accord with its necessities, and therefore can seldom bo conformed 
to precedents. Great Britain, when entering on the negotiations, had 



SECRETARY SEWARD'S DISPATCH. 303 

manifestly come to entertain doubts of her ultimate success ; and it is 
certain that the councils of the Colonies could not fail to take new- 
courage, if not to gain other advantage, when the parent State compro 
mised so far as to treat of peace ou the terms of conceding their indO' 
pendence. 

It is true, indeed, that peace must come at some time, and that con 
ferences must attend, if they are not allowed to precede the pacification 
There is, however, a better form for such conferences than the one which 
M. Drouyn de FHuys suggests. The latter would be palpably in deroga 
tion of the Constitution of the United States, and would carry no weight, 
because destitute of the sanction necessary to bind either the disloyal or 
the loyal portions of the people. On the other liand, the Congress of tho 
United States furnishes a constitutional forum for debates between the 
alienated parties. Senators and representatives from the loyal portion 
of the people are there already, freely empowered to confer ; and seats 
also are vacant, and inviting senators and representatives of this dis- 
contented party who may be constitutionally sent there from the States 
involved in the insurrection. Moreover, the conferences which can 
thus be hold in Congress have this great advantage over any that could 
be organized upon the plan of M. Drouyn de I'Huys, namely, that the 
Congress, if it were thought wise, could call a national convention to 
adopt its recommendations, and give them all the solemnity and bind- 
ing force of organic law. Such conferences between the alienated 
parties may be said to have already begun. Maryland, Virginia, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri — States which are claimed by the 
insurgents — are already represented in Congress, and submitting with 
perfect freedom and in a proper spirit their advice upon the course best 
calculated to bring about, in the shortest time, a firm, lasting, and 
honorable peace. Representatives have been sent also from Louisiana, 
and others are understood to be coming from Arkansas. 

There is a preponderating argument in favor of the Congressional 
form of conference over that which is suggested by M. Drouyn de 
riluys. namely, that while an accession to the latter would bring this 
Government into a concurrence with the insurgents in disregarding and 
setting aside an important part of the Constitution of the United States, 
and so would be of pernicious example, the Congressional conference, 
on the contrary, preserves and gives new strength to that sacred writing 
which must continue through future ages the sheet anchor of the Republic. 

ifou will be at liberty to read this dispatch to M. Drouyn do I'Huys, 
and to givo him a copy if he shall desire it. 



304 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTEATION. 

To the end that you may be informed of the whole case, I transmit 
a copy of M. Drourn de I'lTuys's dispatch. 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

AViLLiAii H. Seward. 

The effect of this dispatch was very marked. It put an 
end to all talk of foreign intervention in any form, and met 
the cordial and even enthusiastic approbation of the people 
throughout the country. Its closing suggestions as to the 
mode in which the Southern States could resume their old 
relations to the Federal Government, were regarded as signifi- 
cant indications of the policy the Administration was inclined 
to ]);irsue whenever the question of restoration should become 
practical ; and while they were somewhat sharply assailed in 
some quarters, they commanded the general assent of the great 
body of the people. 

The subject of appointing commissioners to confer with the 
authorities of the rebel Confederacy had been discussed, before 
the appearance of this correspondence, in the Northern States. It 
had emanated from the party most openly in hostility to the Ad- 
ministration, and those men in that party who had been most 
distinctly opposed to any measures of coercion, or any resort 
to force for the purpose of overcoming the rebellion. It was 
represented by these -persons that the civil authorities of the 
Confederacy were restrained from abandoning the contest only 
by the refusal or neglect of the Government to give them an 
opportunity of doing so without undue humiliation and dis- 
honor; and in December Hon. Fernando Wood, of New 
York, wrote to the President informing him that he had 
reason to believe the Southern States would " send representa- 
tives to the next Congress, provided a full and general amnesty 
should permit them to do so," and askitig the appointment of 
commissioners to ascertain the truth of these assurances. 

To this request the I'resident made the following reply : 



THE president's LETTER TO FERNAKDO WOOL*. 305 

Executive Mansion, TTashington, Dec. 12, 1SG2. 
Hon. Fernando "Wood : 

Mt Dear Sir: — Tour letter of the 8th, ^ith the accompanying note of 
same date, was received yesterday. 

The most important paragrapli in the letter, as I consider, is in these 
words: " On the 25th of November last I was advised by an authority 
which I deemed likely to be well informed as well as reliable and truth- 
ful, that the Southern States would send representatives to the next 
Congress, provided that a full and general amnesty should permit them 
to do so. No guarantee or terms were asked for other than the amnesty 
referred to." 

I strongly suspect your information will prove to be groundless; 
nevertheless, I thank you for communicating it to me. Understanding 
the phrase in the paragraph above quoted — "the Southern States would 
send representatives to the next Congress" — to be substantially the 
same as that " the people of the Southern States would cease resistance, 
and would reinaugurate, submit to, and maintain the national authority 
within the limits of such States, under the Constitution of the United 
States," I say that in such case the war would cease on the part of the 
United States ; and that if within a reasonable tune " a full and general 
amnesty" were necessary to such end, it would not be withheld. 

I do not think it would be proper now to communicate this, formally 
or informally, to the people of the Southern States. My belief is tliat 
they already know it ; and when they choose, if ever, they can com- 
municate with me unequivocally. Nor do I think it proper now to 
suspend military operations to try any experiment of negotiation. 

I should nevertheless receive, with great pleasure, the exact infor- 
mation you now have, and also such other as you may in any way 
obtain. Such information might be more valuable before the 1st of 
January than afterward. 

WhUe there is nothing in this letter which I shall dread to see in 
history, it is, perhaps, better for the present that its existence should 
not become pubhc. I therefore have to request that you will regard it 
as confidential. Tour obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln. 

The intimation in this letter that information concerning 
the alleged willingness of the rebels to resume their allegiance, 
" might be more valuable before the 1st of January than after- 



306 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

wards," had reference to the Emancipation Proclamation which 
lie proposed to issue on that day, unless the offer of his pre- 
liminary proclamation should be accepted. That proclamation 
had been issued on the 22d of September, and the sense of 
responsibility under which this step was taken, was clearly 
indicated in the following remarks made by the President on 
the evening of the 24th of that month, in acknowledging the 
compliment of a serenade at the executive mansion : 

Fellow-Citizens : I appear before you to do little more than acknowl- 
edge the courtesy you pay me, and to thank you for it. I have not 
been distinctly informed why it is that on this occasion you appear to 
do me this honor, though I suppose it is because of the Proclamation 
What I did, I did after a very full dehberation, and under a very heavy 
and solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have 
made no mistake. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain 
what I have done or said by any comment. It is now for the country 
and the world to pass judgment, and may be take action upon it. I 
will say no more upon this subject. In my position I am environed 
with difficulties. Yet they are scarcely so great as the difficulties of 
those who, upon the battle-field, are endeavoring to purchase with their 
blood and their lives, the future happiness and prosperity of this coun- 
try. Let us never forget them. On the 14th and 17 th days of this 
present month, there have been battles bravely, skilfully, and success- 
fully fought. "We do not yet know the particulars. Let us be sure that, 
in giving praise to certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I 
only ask you at the conclusion of these few remarks, to give tliree hearty 
cheers to all good and brave ofEcers and men who fought those success- 
ful battles. 

In November the President published the following order 
regarding the observance of the day of rest, and the vice of 
profanity, in the army and navy : 

Executive M.vnsiox, Washington*, Xov. 16, 1862. 

The President, commander-in-chief of the army and navy, desires and 

enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men 

in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast 

of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and 



OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 307 

sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian peo- 
ple, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in 
the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. 

The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer, 
nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of the day 
or name of the Most High. " At this time of public distress," adopting 
the words of Washington in I'JfG, "men may find enough to do in the 
service of God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vico 
and immorality.'* The first general order issued by the Father of his 
Countrj', after the Declaration of Independence, indicates the spirit in 
which our institutions were founded, and should ever be defended. 
" The general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor 
to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest 
rights and liberties of his country." 

A. LiscoLX. 



308 rPvEsiDENT Lincoln's administeation. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CONGRESSIONAL SESSION OF 1862-63. MESSAGE OP THE 

PRESIDENT, AND GENERAL ACTION OF TUE SESSION. 

The third session of the Thirty-seventh Congress opened on 
the first day of December, 1862 — the supporters of the 
Administration having a large majority in both branches. 
The general condition of the country, and the progress made 
in quelling the rebellion, are clearly set forth in the following 
Message of President Lincoln, which was sent in to Congress 
at the beginning of the session : 

Fellow-Citizens or the Senate and House of Representatives : 
Since your last annual assembling, another year of health and bountiful 
harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless 
us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light 
He gives us, trusting that, in his own good time and wise way, all will 
bo well. 

Tlie correspondence, touching foreign affairs, which has taken place 
during the last year, is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with 
a request to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the 
close of the last session of Congress. If the condition of our relations 
with other nations is less gratifying than it has usually been at former 
periods, it is certainly more satisfactory than a nation so unhappily dis- 
tracted as we are might reasonably have apprehended. In the month 
of June last there were some grounds to expect that the maritime 
Powers which, at the beginning of our domestic difficulties, so unwisely 
and unnecessarily, as we think, recognized the insurgents as a belliger- 
ent, woiJd soon recede from that position, which has proved only less 
injurious to themselves than to our own country. But the temporary 
reverses which afterward befel the National arms, and which wore 



THE PEESIDENT S MESSAGE. 309 

exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens abroad, have liitherto delayed 
that act of simple justice. 

The civil war which has so radically changed for the moment the 
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed 
the social condition, and affected very deeply the prosperity of the 
nations with which we have carried on a commerce that has been 
steadily increasing throughout a period of half a century. It lias, at the 
same time, excited political ambitions and apprehensions which have 
produced a profound agitation throughout the civihzed world. In this 
unusual agitation we have forborne from taking part in any controversy 
between foreign states, and between parties or factions in such states. 
We have attempted no propagandism, and acknowledged no revolution. 
But we have left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management 
of its own affairs. Our struggle has been, of com-se, contemplated by 
foreign nations with reference less to its own merits, than to its 
supposed and often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to 
those nations themselves. Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this 
Government, even if it were just, would certainly be unwise. 

The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade 
has been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success. It 
is an occasion of special pleasure to acknowledge that the execution of 
it on the part of Her Majesty's Government, has been marked with a 
jealous respect for the authority of the United States and the rights of 
their moral and loyal citizens. 

The convention with Uanover for the abolition of the stade dues 
has been carried into full effect, under the act of Congress for that 
purpose. 

A blockade of three thousand miles of seacoast could not be estab- 
lished and vigorously enforced, in a season of great commercial activity 
Hke the present, without committing occasional mistakes, and inflicting 
unintentional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects. 

A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners reside and carry 
on trade under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of complaints of 
the violation of ueutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite mis- 
apprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual reclamations between 
nations which have a common interest in preserving peace and friend- 
ship. In clear cases of these kinds I have, so far as possible, heard and 
redressed complaints which have been presented by friendly Powers. 
There is still, however, a large and an augmenting number of doubtful 
cases, upon which the Government is unable to agree with the Govern- 



310 PBESiDENT Lincoln's admixisteation. 

ments whose protection is demanded by the claimants. There are, 
moreover, many cases in which the United States, or their citizens, 
suffer wrongs from the naval or military authorities of foreign nations, 
which the Governments of these states are not at once prepared to 
redress. I have proposed to some of the foreign states thus interested, 
mutual conventions to examine and adjust such complaints. This propo- 
sition has been made especially to Great Britain, to France, to Spain, 
and to Prussia. In each case it has been kindly received, but has not 
yet been formally adopted. 

I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the 
owners of the Norwegian barb Admiral P. Tordenskiold, which vessel 
was in May, 1861, prevented by the commander of the blockading force 
off Charleston from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a 
similar privilege had, shortly before, been granted to an English ves- 
sel. I have directed the Secretary of State to cause the papers in the 
case to be communicated to the proper committees. 

Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of 
African descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such coloniza 
tion as was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, 
at home and abroad — some from interested motives, others upon patri- 
otic considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic senti- 
ments — have suggested similar measures ; while, on the other hand, 
several of the Spanish- American Eepubhcs have protested against tlie 
sending of such colonies to their respective territories. Under these 
circumstances I have declined to movfe any such colony to any State 
without first obtaining the consent of its Government, with an agree- 
ment on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the rights 
of freemen ; and I have at the same time offered to the several States 
situated witliin the tropics, or having colonies there, to negotiate with 
them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor the 
voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective terri- 
tories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just and humane. Liberia 
and Hayti are, as yet, the only countries to which colonists of African 
descent from liere could go with certainty of being received and adopted 
as citizens ; and I regret to say such persons, contemplating colonization, 
do not seem so willing to migrate to those countries as to some others, 
nOr so wUling as I think their interest demands. I believe, however, 
opinion among them in this respect is improving ; and that ere long 
there will be an augmented and considerable migration to both these 
countries from the United States. 



THE president's MESSAGE. 311 

The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan 
of Turkey has been carried into execution. 

A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the 
Senate's consent, with Liberia; and a similar negotiation is now pend- 
ing with the Repubhc of Ilayti. A considerable improvement of the 
national commerce is exi^ectod to result from these measures. 

Our relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia, 
Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and 
the other European states remain undisturbed. Very favorable rela- 
tions also continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, 
and Japan. 

During the last year there has not only been no change of our previ- 
ous relations with the Independent States of our own continent, but 
more friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to 
be entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so 
intimately connected with our own. This statement especially applies 
to Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and ChiU. 

The commission under the convention with the Republic of New 
Granada closed its session without having audited and passed upon aU 
the claims which were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to 
revive the convention, that it be able to do more complete justice. The 
joint commission between the United States and the Republic of Costa 
Rica has completed its labors and submitted its report. 

I have favored the project for connecting the United States with 
Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the 
telegraph from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with 
the line which is being extended across the Russian Empire. 

The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions, 
have remained undisturbed by the civil war ; and they are exhibiting 
such evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some of 
them will soon be in a condition to be organized as States, and be con- 
stitutionally admitted into the Federal Union. 

The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought 
to be developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction 
would have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government 
and diminish the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious 
consideration whether some extraordinary measures to promote that 
end cannot be adopted. The means which suggests itself as most 
likely to be effective, is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions 
in those Territories, with a view to the publication of its results at 



312 PKESIDENT LIJfCOLK S ADMIXISTKATIOX. 

home and in foreign countries— results which cannot fail to be auspi- 
cious. 

The condition of the finances wiU claim your most diligent considera- 
tion. The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval opera- 
tions required for the suppression of the rebellion have been hitherto 
met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar circumstances : 
and the public credit has been fully maintained. The continuance of 
the Avar, however, and the increased disbursements made necessary by 
the augmented forces now in the fleld, demand your best reflections as 
to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue, without injury 
to business, and with the least possible burdens upon labor. 

The suspension of specie payments by the Banks, soon after the 
commencement of your last session, made large issues of United States 
notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of the troops 
and the satisfaction of other just demands, be so economically or so 
well provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the 
receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties, and making 
them a legal tender for other debts, has made them a universal cur- 
rency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time, the long felt 
want of an uniform circulating medium, saving thereby to the people 
immense sums in discounts and exchanges. 

A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period com- 
patible with due regard to all interests concerned, should ever be kept 
in view. Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, 
and to reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always 
be a leading purpose in wise legislation. ConvertibiUty, prompt and 
certain cotivertibnit_y into coin, is generally acknowledged to be the 
best and surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely doubtful 
whether a circulation of United States notes, payable in coin, and suf- 
ficiently large for the wants of the people, can be permanently, use- 
fully, and safely maintained. 

Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for 
the public wants can be made, and the great advantages of a safe and 
uniform currency secured ? 

I know of none which promises so certain results, and is, at the same 
time, so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations, 
under a general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To 
Buch associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on 
the security of United States bonds deposited m the Treasury. These 
notes, prepai-ed under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform 



THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE. 313 

in appearance and security, and convertible always into coin, would at 
once protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency, and fucilitato 
commerce by cheap and safe exchanges. 

A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would com- 
pensate the United States for the preparation and distribution of the 
notes, and a general supervision of the system, and would Ughten the 
burden of that part of the public debt employed as securities. The 
public credit, moreover, would be greatly improved, and the negotiation 
of new loans greatly facilitated by the steady market demand for Gov- 
ernment bonds which the adoption of the proposed system would create. 

It is an additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable 
weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible all 
existing interests, by the opportunity offered to existing institutions to 
reorganize under the act, substituting only the secured uniform national 
circulation for the local and various circulation, secured and unsecured, 
now issued by them. 

The receipts into the Treasury, from all sources, including loans, and 
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30th 
of June, 1862, were $583,885,247 60, of which sum $49,056,397 62 
were derived from customs ; $1,795,331 73 from the direct tax; from 
pubUc lands, $152,203 77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787 64; 
from loans in all forms, $529,692,460 50. The remainder, $2,257,065 80, 
was the balance from last year. 

The disbursements during the same period were for Congressional, 
Executive, and Judicial purposes, $5,939,009 29; for foreign intercourse, 
$1,339,710 35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the mints, loans, 
post-ofiQee deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other like charges, 
$14,129,771 50; for expenses under the Interior Department, $3,102,-' 
985 52 under tlje War Department, $394,368,407 36 ; under the Navy 
Department, $42,674,569 69; for interest on pubhc debt. $13,190,324 
45 ; and for payment of public debt, including reimbursement of 
temporary loan, and redemptions, $96,096,922 09; making an aggre- 
gate of $570,841,700 25, and leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 
1st day of July, 1862, of 13,043,546 81. 

It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922 09, expended for 
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in 
the loans made, may be properly deducted, both from receipts and ex- 
penditures, leaving the actual receiiJts for the year $487,788,324 97, 
and the expenditures, $474,744,778 IG. 

Other information on the subjeci of the finances will be found in the 
U 



314 PEKSiDEKT Lincoln's administeation. 

report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and views 
I invite your most candid and considerate attention. 

The reports of the Secretaries of "War and of the Navy are herewith 
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than 
brief abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and op- 
erations conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a sum- 
mary of them here, upon any principle which would admit of its being 
much shorter than the reports themselves. I therefore content myself 
with laying the reports before you, and asking your attention to them. 

It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial 
condition of the Post-OfiSce Department, as compared with several pre- 
ceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to 
$8,349,296, 40, which embraced the revenue from all the States of the 
Union for three quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation 
of revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year, 
the increase of the correspondence of the loyal States has been suf- 
ficient to produce a revenue during the same year of $8,299,820 90, 
being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the States of the 
Union during the previous year. The expenditures show a still moro 
favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was $13,606,759 11. 
For the last year the amount has been reduced to $11,125,364: 13, 
showing a decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures as com- 
pared with the preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with 
the fiscal year 1860. The deficiency in tlie Department for the previ- 
ous year was $4,551,966 98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to 
$2,112,814 57. These favorable results are in part owing to the cessa- 
tion of mail service in the insurrectionary States, and in part to a care- 
ful review of aU expenditures in that department in the interest of 
economy. Tlie efficiency of the postal service, it is beheved, has also 
been much improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a cor- 
respondence, through the Department of State, with foreign Govern- 
ments, proposing a convention of postal representatives for the purpose 
of simphfying the rates of foreign postage, and to expedite the foreign 
mails. This proposition, equally important to our adopted citizens and 
to the commercial interests of this country, has been favorably enter- 
tained and agreed to by all the Governments from whom replies have 
been received. 

I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the Postmaster- 
General in his report respecting the further legislation required, m his 
opinion, for the benefit of the postal service. 



THE president's MESSAGE. 315 

The Secretary of tlie Interior reports as follows it regard to tlie 
public lands : 

Tlic piiblic lands have ceased to be a source of revraue. From the 
1st July, 18(51, to tue 30th September, 1862, the entire cash receipts from 
the tale of lands were $137,476 26 — a sum much less than the expenses 
of our laud system during the same period. The homestead law, which 
will take effect on the Ist of January next, offers such inducements to 
settlers that sales for cash cannot be expected, to an extent sufficient to 
meet the expense of the General Land Ofhce, and the cost of surveying 
and bringing the land into market. 

The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from tho 
sales of the public lands, and tho sum derived from the same source as 
reported from the Treasury Department, arises, as I understand, from 
the fact that the periods of time, though apparently, were not really 
coincident at tho beginning-point — the Treasury report including a con- 
siderable sum now which had previously been reported from the In- 
terior — sufficiently large to greatly overreacli the sum deiived from the 
tliree months now reported upon by the Interior, and not by the 
Treasury. 

The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have, during the past year, 
manifested a spirit of insubordination, and, at several points, have 
engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their 
vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas 
renounced their allegiance to the United States, and entered into 
treaties with the insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United 
States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has 
visited this city for the purpose of restoring the former relations of the 
tribe with the United States. lie alleges that they were constrained, 
by superior force, to enter into treaties with the insurgents, and that 
the United States neglected to furnish the protection which their treaty 
stipulations required. 

In the month of August last, the Sioux Indians in Minnesota, attacked 
the settlement in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing, in- 
discriminately, men, women, and children. This attack was wholly 
unexpected, and therefore no means of defence had been provided. It 
is estimated that not less than eight hundred persons were killed by 
tho Indians, and a large amount of property was destroyed. How this 
outbreak was induced is not definitely known, and suspicions, wluch 
may be unjust, need not to be stated. Information was received by the 
Indian Bureau, from different sources, about the time hostilities were 
commenced, that a simultaneous attack was to be made upon the white 



81G PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTKATIOX. 

settlements by all the tribes between the Mississippi River and the 
Rocky Mountains. The State of Minnesota has suffered great injury 
from this Indian war. A large portion of her territory has been de- 
populated, and a severe loss has been sustained by the destruction of 
property. The peoi^le of that State manifest much anxiety for the re- 
moval of the tribes beyond the limits of the State as a guarantee against 
future hostilities. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs will furnish full 
details. I submit for your especial consideration whether our Indian 
system shall not be remodelled. Many wise and good men have im- 
pressed me with the belief that this can be profitably done. 

I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which 
shows the progress that has been made in the enterprise of construct- 
ing the Pacific railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of 
this road, and also the favorable action of Congress upon the projects 
now pending before them for enlarging the capacities of the great 
canals in New York and Illinois, as being of vital and rapidly increas- 
ing importance to the whole nation, and especially to the vast interior 
region hereinafter to be noticed at some greater length. I purpose 
having prepared and laid before you at an early day some interesting 
and valuable statistical information upon this subject. The miUtary 
and commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois and Micliigan 
canal, and improving the Illinois river, is presented in the report of 
Col. Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to Con- 
gress. I respectfully ask attention to it. 

To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of 
May last, I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United 
States to be organized. 

The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months 
this department has established an extensive system of correspondence 
and exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect 
highly beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of 
recent improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, 
and in the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different States. 
Also, that it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds, cereals, 
plants and cuttings, and has already published and hberally diffused 
much valuable information in anticipation of a more elaborate report, 
which will in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable tests in 
chemical science now in progress in the laboratory. 

The creation of this department was for the more immediate benefit 
of a largo class of our most valuable fellow-citizens ; and I trust that 



THE PEESIDENt's MESSAGE. 317 

'■,he liberal basis upon which it has been organized vrill not only meet 
yonr approbation, but that it will realize, at no distant day, all the 
fondest anticipations of its most sanguine friends, and become the fruit- 
ful source of advantage to all our people. 

On the 2 2d day of September last, a proclamation was issued by the 
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted". 

In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph 
of that paper, I now respectfully call your attention to what may be 
called " compensated emancipation." 

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its 
laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. 
" One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the 
earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider 
and estimate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the earth's sur- 
face which is owned aud inhabited by the people of the United States, 
is well adapted to the home of one national family ; and it is not well 
adapted for two or more. Its vast extent, and its variety of climate and 
productions, are of advantage in this age for one people, whatever they 
might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence 
have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united 
people. 

In the Inaugural Address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy 
of disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the 
two sections. I did so in language which I cannot improve, and wbich, 
therefore, I beg to repeat : 

" One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to 
be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be 
extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive slave 
clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign 
slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be 
in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly sup- 
ports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry 
legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I 
think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse, in both cases, 
after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave- 
trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without 
restriction in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially 
surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. 

" Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our 
respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall be- 
tween them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the 
presence and beyond the reach of each other ; but the different parts 
of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; 



318 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

and intercourse, cither amicable or hostile, must continue between 
them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous 
or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make 
treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faitli- 
fully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose 
you go to war, you cannot light always; and when, after much loss on 
both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old 
questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you." 

There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary, 
upon which to divide. Trace through, from east to west, upon the 
line between the free and slave country, and we shall find a little 
more than one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and 
populated, or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while 
nearly all its remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which 
people may walk back and forth without any consciousness of their 
presence. Xo part of this line can be made any more difBcult to pass 
by writing it down on paper or parchment as a national boundary. Tho 
fact of separation, if it comes, gives up, on the part of the seceding sec- 
tion, the fugitive slave clause, along with all other constitutional obliga- 
tions upon the section seceded from, while I should expect no treaty 
stipulation would ever bo made to take its place. 

But there is another difficulty. The great interior region, boimded 
east by the AUeghanies, north by the British domiuions, west by the 
Kocky Mountains, and south by the hne along which the culture of 
corn and cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Ten- 
nessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, AVisconsin, Illinois, 
Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Xe- 
braska, and part of Colorado, already has above ten miUions of people, 
and will have fifty millions within fifty years if not prevented by any 
political folly or mistake. It contains more than one-third of the coun- 
try owned by the United States — certainly more than one milhoa of 
square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts already is, it 
wotild have more than seventy-five millions of people. A glance at the 
map shows that, territorially speaking, it is the great body of the Re- 
public. The other parts are but marginal borders to it, the magnificent 
region sloping west from the llocky Mountains to the Pacific being tho 
deepest, and also the richest in undeveloped resources. In the produc- 
tion of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, 
this great interior region is naturally one of the most important of tho 
world. Ascertain from the statistics tho small proportion of the region 
which has as yet been brought into cultivation, and also tho large and 



THE pkesident's message. 319 

rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we shall be overwhelmed 
with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And yet this region has 
no seacoast — touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one nation, its 
peopb now find, and may forever find, their way to Europe by New 
York, to South America and Africa by Xew Orleans, and to Asia by 
San Francisco. But separate our common country into two nations, as 
designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior 
region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these outlets, not 
perhaps by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade 
regulations. 

And this is true, wherever a dividing or boundary line may be fixed. 
Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of 
Kentucky, or north of Ohio, and stLU the truth remains that none south 
of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it can 
trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated by a 
Government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and soutli, are 
indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to inhabit this 
vast interior region. Which of the three may be the best is no proper 
question. All are better than either, and all of right belong to that 
people and to their successors forever. True to themselves, they will 
not ask where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that 
there shall be no such line. Kor are the marginal regions less interested 
in these communications to and through them to the great outside world. 
They too, and each of them, must have access to this Egypt of the "West, 
without paying toll at the crossing of any national boundary. 

Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from 
the land we inhabit ; not from our national homestead. There is no 
possible severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils 
among us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and 
abhors separation. In fact, it would ere long force reimion, however 
much of blood and treasure the separation might have cost. 

Our strife pertains to ourselves — to the passing generations of men 
and it can, without convulsion, be hushed forever with the passing of o 
generation. 

In this view, I recommend the adoption of the following resolution 
and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
Amenca in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), 
That the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures (or Conven- 
tions) of the several States as amendments to the Constitution of the 



320 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by throe-fonrths 
of the said Legislatures (or Conventions), to be valid as part or parts 
of the said Constitution, viz: 

Article. — Every State, wherein Slavery now exists, which shall abolish 
the same therein at any time or times before the first day of January, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand and nine hundred, shall receive com- 
pensation from the United States as follows, to wit : 

The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State 

bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of per cent. 

per annum, to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of for each 

slave shown to have been therein by the eighth census of the United 
States, said bonds to be d«livered to such State by installments, or in one 
parcel, at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same 
shall have been gradual, or at one time, within such State; and interest 
shall begin to run upon aviv «ii-\i \u.,,<\ <>^\]^■ from the proper time of its 
delivery as aforesaid. A;' _ ivrd bonds as aforesaid, and 

afterwards reintrodnein.; y therein, shall refund to the 

United States the bonds .-. ■ : tn. \ulue thereof, and aU interest 

paid thereon. 

Ajrticlk — All slaves who shaU have enjoyed actual freedom by the 
chances of the war, at any time before the end of the rebellion, shall be 
forever free ; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal 
shaU be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States 
adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall be 
twice accounted for. 

Article. — Congress may appropriate money, and otherwise provide 
for colonizin* free colored persons, with their own consent, at any place 
or places without the United States. 



I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some length. 
Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without 
slavery it could not continue. 

Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment 
and of policy in regard to slavery, and the African race amongst us. 
Some would perpetuate slavery ; some would abolish it suddenly, and 
withotit compensation ; some would abolish it gradually, and with com- 
pensation; some would remove the freed people from us, and somo 
would retain them with us : and there are yet other minor diversities. 
Because of these diversities we waste much strength among ourselves. 
By mutual concession we should harmonize and act together. This 
would be compromise ; but it would be comproniise among the friends, 
and not with the enemies of the Union. These articles are intended to 
embody a plan of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, 
it is assumed that emancipation will foUow in at least several of tho 
States. 

As to the first article, the main points are : first, the emancipation ; 
Becondly, the length of time for consummating it- -thirty-seven years ; 
and, thirdly, the compensation. 



THE president's MESSAGE. 321 

Tlie emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual 
slavery ; but the lengtli of time should greatly mitigate their dissatis- 
faction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden derange- 
ment — in fact, from the necessity of any derangement ; while moat of 
those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the meas- 
ure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never 
see it. Another class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will 
deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to 
the now living slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them 
from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate 
emancipation in localities where their numbers are very great ; and it 
gives the inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. 
The plan leaves to each State choosing to act under it, to abolish 
slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time, 
or by degrees, extending over the whole or any part of the period ; and 
it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compen- 
sation, and generally the mode of making it. This, it' would seem, 
must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual 
slavery, and especially of tliose who are to receive the compensation. 
Doubtless some of those who are to pay and not receive will object. 
Yet the measure is both just and economical. In a certain sense the 
liberation of slaves is the destruction of property — property acquired 
by descent or by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less 
true for having been often said, that the people of the South are not more 
responsible for the original introduction of this property than are the 
people of the North ; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly 
we all use cotton and sugar, and share the profits of dealing in them, 
it may not be quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible 
than the North for its continuance. If, then, for a common object this 
property is to be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common 
charge ? 

And if with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve 
the benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the war alone, 
is it not also economical to do it ? Let us consider it, then. Let U3 
ascertain the sum we have expended in the war since compensated 
emancipation was proposed last March, and consider whether, if that 
measure had been promptly accepted by even some of the Slave States, 
the same sum would not have done more to close the war than has 
been otherwise done. If so, the measure would save money, and, in 
that view, would be a prudent and economical measure. Certainly it is 
14* 



322 PBBS11>EXT LIXCOLNS ADMIXISTEATION." 

not 30 easy to pay something as it is to pay cotliing ; but it is easier 
pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And it is easier to 
to pay any sum when we are able than it is to pay it before we are able. 
The war reiiuires large sums, and requires them at once. The aggre- 
gate sum necessary for compensated emancipation of course would be 
large. But it would require no ready cash, nor the bonds even, any 
faster than the emancipation progresses. This might not, and probably 
v.oald not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that 
time we shall probably have a hundred millions of people to share the 
burden, instead of thirty-one millions, as now. And not only so, but 
the increase of our population may be expected to continue for a long 
time after that period as rapidly as before ; because our territory will 
not have become full. I do not state this inconsiderately. 

At the same ratio of increase which we have maintained, on an aver- 
age, from our first national census, in 1790, until that of 1860, we 
should, in 190.0, have a population of 103,208,415. And why may wo 
not continue that ratio — faf beyond that period ? Our abundant room — 
our broad national homestead — is our ample resource. Were our terri- 
tory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our population 
could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign born as 
now, we should be compelled to send part of the native born away. 
But such is not our condition. We have two millions nine hundred 
and sixty-three thousand square miles. Europe has three millions and 
eight hundred thousand, with a population averaging seventy-three and 
one-third persons to the square mile. Why may not our country at 
some time average as many? Is it less fertile? Has it more waste 
surface, by mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, or otlier causes ? Is it 
inferior to Europe in any natural advantage ? If then we are, at some 
time, to be as populous as Europe, how soon ? As to when this may 
be, we can judge by the past and the present ; as to when it will be, if 
ever, depends much on whether we maintain the Union. Several of 
our States are already above the average of Europe — seventy-three 
and a third to the square mile. Massachusetts 157 ; Rhode Island 1.33 ; 
Connecticut 99; Now York and New Jersey, each 80. Also two other 
great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not fUr below, the former 
having 03 and the latter 59. The States already above the European 
average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio, since 
passing that point, as ever before ; while no one of them is equal to 
some other parts of our country in natural capacity for sustaining a 
dense population. 



THE PRESIDENT S MESSAGE. 



323 



Taking the nation in tho aggregate, and we find its population and 
ratio of increase, for the several decennial periods, to be as foUows; 



1799.. 


. 3,929,827 




1800.. 


. 5,305,937 


35.02 per cent, ratio of ii 


1810.. 


. 7,239,814 


36.45 " 


1820.. 


. 9,638,131 


33.13 " 


1830.. 


. 12,866,020 


33.49 " " ' 


1840.. 


. 17,069,453 


32.67 " •' ' 


1850.. 


. 23,191,876 


35.87 " 


I860.. 


. 31,443,790 


35.58 " 



This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent, in 
population through the seventy years, from our first to our last census 
yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase, at no one of these two 
periods, is either two per cent, below or two per cent, above tho aver- 
age ; thus showing how inflexible, and consequently how reliable, the 
law of increase in our case is. Assuming that it wiU continue, it gives 
the following results : 

1870 42,323,341 

1880 56,967,216 

1890 76,677,872 

1900 103,208,415 

1910 138,918,526 

1920 186,984,335 

1930 251,680,914 

These figures show that our country may be as populous as Europe 
now is at some point between 1920 and 1930 — say about 1925 — our 
territory, at seventy-three and a third persons to the square mile, being 
of capacity to contain 217,186,000. 

And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the 
chance, by the folly and evils of disunion, or by long and eihausting 
wars springing from the only great element of national discord among 
us. While it cannot be foreseen exactly how much one huge example 
of secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population, 
civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it would 
be very groat and injurious. 

Tho proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace, 
insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of 
the country. With these we should pay all the emancipation would 
cost, together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other 
debt without it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at sis 



324 TKESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMrfiISTEATIO>r. 

per cent, per annum, simple interest, from the end of our Revolutionary 
struggle until to-day, without paying anything on either principal or 
interest, each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each 
man owed upon it then; and this because our increase of men, through 
the whole period, has been greater than six per cent. ; has run faster 
than the interest upon the debt. Thus, time alone relieves a debtor 
nation, so long as its population increases faster than unpaid interest 
accumulates on its debt. 

This fact would be no excuse for delaymg payment of what is justly 
due ; but it shows the great importance of time in this connection — the 
great adsantage of a poUcy by which we shall not have to pay until 
we number a hundred millions, what, by a different poUcy, we would 
have to pay now, when we number but thirty-one millions. In a word, 
it shows that a dollar will be much harder to pay for the war than will 
be a dollar for the emancipation on the proposed plan. And then 
the latter will cost no blood, no precious hie. It will be a saving of 
both. 

As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return 
to bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them, 
doubtless, in the 'property sense, belong to loyal owners; and hence 
provision is made in this article for compensating such. 

The third article relates to the future of the freed people. It does 
not oblige, but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as 
may consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on tho 
one hand or on the other, in so much as it comes to nothing unless by 
the mutual consent of tho people to be deported, and the American 
voters, through their representatives in Congress. 

I cannot make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor 
colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against 
free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely imagin- 
arj', if not sometimes maUcious. 

It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white labor 
and white laborers. If there ever coald be a proper time for mere catch 
arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men 
should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible 
through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored people can 
displace any moro white labor by being free than by remaining slaves ? 
If they stay in their old places they jostle no white laborers ; if they 
\ave their old places they leave them open to white laborers. Logic- 
ally there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation even without 



THE president's MESSAGE. 325 

deportarion, would probably enhance the wages of white labor, and, 
very surely, would not reduce them. Thus the customary amount of 
labor would still have to be performed — the freed people would surely 
not do more than their old proportion of it, and very probably for a 
time would do less, leaving an increased part to white laborers, bring- 
ing their labor into greater demand, and consequently enhancing the 
wages of it. "With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced 
wages to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any 
other commodity in the market — increase the demand for it and you 
increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor, by colo- 
nizing the black laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much 
you increase the demand for and wages of white labor. 

But it is dreaded that the freed prople wiU swarm forth and cover 
the whole land 1 Are they not already in the land ? Will liberation 
make them any more numerous? Equally distributed among the 
whites of the whole country, and there would be but oue colored to 
seven whites. Could the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven ? 
There are many communities now having more than one free colored 
person to seven whites ; and this, without any apparent consciousness 
of evil from it. The District of Columbia and the States of Maryland 
and Delaware are all in this condition. The District has more than one 
free colored to sLs whites ; and yet, in its frequent petitions to Con- 
gress, I believe it has never presented the presence of free colored 
persons as one of its grievances. But why should emancipation South 
send the freed people North ? People of any color seldom run unless 
there be something to run from. Heretofore colored people to some 
extent have fled North from bondage ; and now, perhaps, from bondage 
and destitution. But if gradual emancipation and deportation be 
adopted they will have neither to flee from. Their old masters will 
give them wages at least untQ new laborers can be procured, and the 
freed men in turn will gladly give their labor for the wages till new 
homes can be found for them in congenial climes and with people of 
their own blood and race. This proposition can be trusted on the 
mutual interests involved. And in any event, cannot the North decide 
for itself whether to receive them ? 

Again, as practice proves more than theory, in any case, has there 
been any irruption of colored people northward because of the abolish- 
ment of slavery in this District last spring ? 

What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the 
whites in the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference 



320 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

to persons called contrabands, nor to those made free by the act of 
Congress, abolishing slavery here. 

The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that 
a restoration of national siuthority would bo accepted without its adop- 
tion. 

Nor will the war, nor proceedings under tlie proclamation of Septem- 
ber 22, 1862, be stayed because of the recommendation of this plan. 
Its timely adoption, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby 
stay both. 

And. notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress 
provide by law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipa- 
tion before this plan shaU have been acted upon, is hereby earnestly 
renewed. Such would be only an advanced part of the plan, and the 
same arguments apply to both. 

This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but ad- 
ditional to, all others for restoring and preserving the national authority 
throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its 
economical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more 
speedily, and maintain it more permanently, than can be done by force 
alone ; while all it would cost, considering amounts, and manner of 
payment, and times of payment, would be easier paid than will bo the 
additional cost of the war, if we solely rely upon force. It is much — 
very much — that it would cost no blood at all. 

The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It oannot 
Ijecome such, without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, 
and afterward three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths 
of the States will necessarily inchide seven of the Slave States. 
Their concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally 
adopting emancipation, at no very distant day, upon the new constitu- 
tional terms. This assurance would end the struggle now, and save 
the Union forever. 

I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper ad- 
dressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the 
nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors ; nor that 
many of you have more experience than I in the conduct of public 
affairs. Yet I trust that, in view of the great responsibility resting 
upon me, you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any 
undue earnestness I may seem to display. 

Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten 
the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it 



THE president's MESSAGE. 327 

doubted that it would restore the national authority and national pros- 
perity, and perpetuate both indefinitely ? Is it doubted that we here — 
Congress and Executive — can secure its adoption ? Will not the good 
people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can 
they, by any other means, so certainly o.-».iO speedily assure these vital 
objocts ? We can succeed only "oy concert. It is not " can any of us 
imagine better?" but "can we all do better?" Object whatsoever is 
possible, still the question recurs, " can we do better ?" The dogmas 
of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion 
is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As 
our case is now, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must 
disenthral ourselves, and then we shall save our country. 

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and 
this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No 
personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. 
The fierj^ trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or 
dishonor to the latest generation. We say that we are for the Union. 
The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the 
Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we 
here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom 
to the slave wo assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what 
we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose 
the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could 
not, cannot fail. Tho way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way 
wliic'n, if followed, the world will forever applaud and God must for- 
ever bless. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

December 1, 1862. 

At the very oiiteet of the session, resolutions were introduced 
by the opponents of the Administration, censuring, in strong 
terms, its arrest of individuals, in tlie loyal States, suspected 
of giving, or intending to give aid and comfort to the rebellion. 
These arrests were denounced as utterly unwarranted by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, and as involving 
the subversion of the public liberties. In the Senate, the gen- 
eral subject was discussed in a debate, commencing on the 8th 
of December, the opponents of the Administration setting 
forth very fully and very strongly their opinion of the unjusti- 



328 TRESIDEXT LEfCOLX's ADMIXISTRATIO]!f. 

fiable nature of this action, and its friends vindicating it as 
made absolutely necessary by the emergencies of the case. 
Every department of the Government, and every section of the 
country, were filled at the outset of the war with men actively 
engaged in doing the work of spies and informers for the rebel 
authorities ; and it was known that, in repeated instances, the 
plans and purposes of the Government had been betrayed and 
defeated by these aiders and abettors of treason. It became 
absolutely necessary, not for purposes of punishment but of 
prevention, to arrest these men in the injurious and perhaps 
fatal action they were preparing to take ; and on this ground 
the action of the Government was vindicated and justified by 
the Senate. On the 8th of December, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, a bill was introduced, declaring the suspension of 
the writ of habeas corpus to have been required by the public 
safety, confirming and declaring valid all arrests and imprison- 
ments, by whomsoever made or caused to be made, under the 
authority of the President, and indemnifying the President, 
secretaries, heads of departments, and all persons who have 
been concerned in making such arrests, or in doing or advising 
any such acts, and making void all prosecutions and proceed, 
iiigs whatever against them in relation to the matters in ques- 
tion. It also authoiized the President, during the existence 
of the war, to declare the suspension of the writ of habeas cor- 
;■«•>••, " at such times, and in such places, and with regard to 
such persons, as in his judgment the public safety may require." 
This bill was passed, receiving ninety votes in its favor, and 
forty-five against it. It was taken up in the Senate on the 22d 
of December, and after a discussion of several days, a new bill 
was substituted and passed ; ayes 33, noes 7. This was taken 
up in the House on the 18th of February, and the substitute 
of the Senate was rejected. This led to the appointment of a 
committee of conference, which recommended that the Senate 
recede from its amendments^ and that the bill, substantially as 



ARE THE EEBEL STATES ALIENS? 329 

it came from the House, be passed. This report was agreed 
to, after long debate, and the bill thus became a law. 

The relations in which the Rebel States are placed by their 
acts of secession towards the General Government, became a 
topic of discussion in the House of Representatives, in a debate 
which arose on the 8th of January, upon an item in the appro- 
priation bill, limiting the amount to be paid to certain commis- 
sioners to the amount that might be collected from taxes in 
the insurrectionary States. Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, 
pronounced the opinion that the Constitution did not embrace 
a State that was in arras against the Government of the United 
States. He maintained that those States held towards us the 
position of alien enemies — that every obligation existing be- 
tween them and us had been annulled, and that with regard 
to4 all the Southern States in rebellion, the Constitution has 
no binding force and no application. This position was very 
strongly controverted by men of both parties. Those who 
were not in full sympathy with the Administration opposed 
it, because it denied to the Southern people the protection of 
the Constitution ; while many Republicans regarded it as a 
virtual acknowledgment of the validity and actual force of the 
ordinances of secession passed by the Rebel States. Mr. 
Thomas, of Massachusetts, expressed the sentiment of the lat- 
ter class very clearly when he said that one object of the bill 
under discussion was to impose a tax upon States in rebellion, 
— that our only authority for so doing was the Constitution of 
tlie United States, — and that we could only do it on the 
ground that the authority of the Government over those States 
is just as valid now as it was before the acts of secession were 
passed, and that every one of those acts is utterly null and 
void. No vote was taken which declared directly the" opinion 
of the House on the theoretical question thus involved. 

The employment of negroes as soldiers was subjected to a 
vigorous discussion, started on the 27th of January, by aa 



330 PRESIDENT IJNCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

amendment offered to a pending bill by Mr. Stevens, directing 
the President to raise, arm, and equip as many volunteers of 
African descent as he might deem useful, for such term of 
service as he might think proper, not exceeding five years, — 
to be officered by white or black persons in the President's 
discretion — slaves to be accepted as well as freemen. The 
members from the Border States opposed this proposition with 
great earnestness, as certain to do great harm to the Union 
cause among their constituents, by arousing prejudices which, 
whether reasonable or not, were very strong, and against which 
argument would be found utterly unavailing. Mr. Crittenden, 
of Kentucky, objected to it mainly because it would convert 
the war against the rebellion into a servile war, and establish 
abolition as the main end for which the war was carried on. 
Mr. Sedgwick, of New York, vindicated the policy suggested 
MS having been dictated rather by necessity than choice. He 
pointed out the various steps by which the President, as the 
responsible head of the Government, had endeavored to prose- 
cute the war successfully without interfering with slavery, and 
showed also how the refusal of the Rebel States to return to 
their allegiance had compelled him to advance, step by step, 
to the more rigorous and effective policy which had now be- 
come inevitable. After considerable further discussion, the 
bill, embodying substantially the amendment of Mr. Stevens, 
was passed ; ayes 83, noes 54. On reaching the Senate it was 
referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, which, on the 
12th of February, reported against its passage, on the ground 
that the authority which it was intended to confer upon the 
President was already sufficiently granted in the act of the 
previous session, approved July 17, 1862, which authorized 
the President to employ, iii any military or naval service for 
which they might be found competent, persons of African 
descent. 

One of the most important acts of the session was that which 



THE I'ROVISION FOR A DRAFT. 331 

provided for the creation of a national force by enrolling and 
drafting the militia of the whole country, — each State being 
required to contribute its quota in the ratio of its population, 
and the whole force, when raised, to be under the control of 
the President. Some measure of the kind seemed to have, 
been rendered absolutely necessary by the revival of party 
spirit throughout the loyal States, and by the active and eflFect- 
ive efforts made by the Democratic party, emboldened by the 
results of the fall elections of 1862, to discourage and prevent 
volunteering. So successful had they been in this work, that 
the Government seemed likely to fail in its efforts to raise men 
for another campaign ; and it was to avert this threatening 
evil that the bill in question was brought forward for the action 
of Congress. It encountered a violent resistance from the oppo- 
sition party, and especially from those members whose sym- 
pathies with the secessionists were the most distinctly marked. 
But after the rejection of numerous amendments, more or less 
affecting its character and force, it was passed in the Senate, 
and taken up on the 23d of February in the House, where it 
encountered a similar ordeal. It contained various provis- 
ions for exempting from service persons upon whom others 
were most directly and entirely dependent for support, — such 
as the only son of a widow, the only son of aged and infirm 
parents who relied upon him for a maintenance, etc. It 
allowed drafted persons to procure substitutes ; and, to cover 
the cases in which the prices of substitutes might become ex- 
orbitant, it also provided that upon payment of $300 the 
Government itself would procure a substitute, and release the 
person drafted from service. The bill was passed in the House 
with some amendments, by a vote of lf5 to 49, — and the 
amendments being concurred in by the Senate, the bill became 
a law. 

The finances of the country enlisted a good deal of atten- 
tion during this session. It was necessary to provide in some 



332 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

way for the expenses of the war, and also for a currency ; and 
two bills were accordingly introduced at an early stage of the 
session relating to these two subjects. The Financial bill, 
as finally passed by both ^houses, authorized the Secretary 
of the Treasury to borrow and issue bonds for §900,000,000, 
at not more than six per cent, interest, and payable at a time 
not less than ten nor more than forty years. It also author- 
ized the Secretary to issue Treasury notes to the amount 
of $400,000,000, bearing interest, and also notes not bearing 
interest to the amount of $150,000,000. While this bill 
was pending, a joint resolution was passed by both houses, 
authorizing the issue of Treasury notes to the amount of 
8100,000,000 to meet the immediate wants of the soldiers 
and sailors in the service. 

The President announced that he had signed this resolution 

in the following 

MESSAGE. 

To the Senate and House of Representatives : 

I have signed the jomt resolution to provide for the immediate pay- 
ment of the army and navy of the United States, passed by the House 
of Representatives on the 14th, and by the Senate on the 15th iust. 
The joint resolution is a simple authority, amounting, however, under 
the existing circumstances, to a direction to the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury to make an additional issue of §100,000,000 in United States notes, 
if so much money is needed, for the payment of the army and navy. 
My approval is given in order that every possible facility may be aflforded 
for the prompt discharge of all arrears of pay duo to our soldiers and 
our sailors. 

While giving this approval, however, I think it my duty to express 
my sincere regret that it has been found necessary to authorize so large 
an additional issue of United States notes, when this circulation, and 
tliat of the suspended banks together, have become already so redundant 
as to increase prices beyond real values, thereby augmenting the cost 
of living, to the injury of labor, and the cost of supplies — to the injnry 
of the whole country. It seems very plain that continued issues of 
United States notes, without any check to the issues of suspended 
bunks, and without adequate provision for the raising of money by 



MESSAGE OX THE FIXANCES AND CUEBENCT. 333 

loans, and for funding the issues, so as to keep them within due limits, 
must soon produce disastrous consequences ; and this matter appears to 
me so important that I feel bound to avail myself of this occasion to 
ask the special attention of Congress to it. 

That Congress has power to regulate the currency of the country can 
hardly admit of doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent the 
deterioration of this currency, by a reasonable taxation of bank circu- 
lation, or otherwise, is needed, seems equally clear. Independently 
of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large 
to exempt banks enjoying the special privilege of circulation, from their 
just proportion of the public burdens. 

In order to raise money by way of loans most easily and cheaply, it 
is clearly necessary to give every possible support to the public credit. 
To that end, a uniform currency, in which taxes, subscriptions, loans, 
and all other ordinary public dues may be paid, is almost if not quite 
indispensable. Such a currency can be furnished by banking associa- 
tions authorized under a general act of Congress, as suggested in my 
message at the beginning of the present session. The securing of this 
■ circulation by the pledge of the United States bonds, as herein sug- 
gested, would still further facih'tate loans, by increasing the present and 
causing a future demand for such bonds. 

In view of the actual financial embarrassments of the Government, 
and of the greater embarrassment sure to come if the necessary means 
of relief be not afforded, I feel that I should not perform my duty by a 
simple announcement of my approval of the joint resolution, which 
proposes rehef only by increasing the circulation, without expressing 
my earnest desire that measures, such in substance as that I have just 
referred to, may receive the early sanction of Congress. By such 
measures, in my opinion, will payment be most certainly secured, not 
only to the army and navy, but to aU honest creditors of the Govern- 
ment, and satisfactory provision made for future demands on the 
Treasury. Abeaham Lincoln. 

The second bill — that to provide a national currency, secured 
by a pledge of United States stocks, and to provide for the circu- 
lation and redemption thereof, was passed in the Senate, — ayes 
23, noes 21, and in the House, ayes 78, noes 64, — under the two- 
fold conviction that so long as the war continued the country 
must have a large supply of paper-money, and that it was also 



334 PKESiDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

highly desirable that this money should be national in its char- 
acter, and rest on the faith of the Government as its security. 
Another act of importance, passed by Congress at this ses- 
sion, was the admission of Western Virginia into the Union. 
The Constitution of the United States declares that no new 
State shall be formed within the jurisdiction of any State 
without the consent r.f the Legislature of the State concerned, 
as well as of the Congress. The main question on which the 
admission of the new State turned, therefore, was whether that 
State had been formed with the consent of the Legislature of 
Virginia. The facts of the case were these : In the winter of 
1860-61, the Legislature of Virginia, convened in extra session, 
had called a convention, to be held on the 14th of February, 
1S61, at Richmond, to decide on the question of secession. A 
vote was also to be taken, when the delegates to this conven- 
tion should be elected, to decide whether an ordinance of se- 
cession, if passed by the convention, should be referred back 
to the people ; and this was decided in the aifirraative by a 
majority of nearly 60,000. The convention met, and an ordi- 
nance of secession was passed, and referred to the people at an 
election to be held on the fourth Tuesday of May. Without 
waiting for this vote, the authorities of the State levied war 
against the United States, joined the Rebel Confederacy, and 
invited the Confederate armies to occupy portions of their 
territory. A convention of nearly five hundred delegates, 
chosen in Western Virginia under a popular call, met early 
in May, declared the ordinance of secession null and void, and 
called another convention of delegates from all the counties of 
Virginia, to be held at Wheeling, on the 11th of June, in case 
the secession ordinance should be ratified by the popular vote. 
It was so ratified and the convention met. It proceeded on 
the assumption that the ofiicers of the old government of the 
State had vacated their ofiices by joining the rebellion : and it 
accordingly proceeded to fill them, and to reorganize the gov 



ADiriSSION OF AVESTEKX VIRGINIA. ?35 

crnment of the wliole State. On the 20th of August the con- 
vention passed an ordinance to "provide for the formation of 
a new State out of a portion of the territory of this State." 
Under that ordinance, delegates were elected to a convention 
■which met at Wheeling, November 26, and proceeded to draft 
a Constitution for the State of Western Virginia, as the new 
State was named, which was submitted to the people of West- 
ern Virginia in April, 1862, and by them ratified, — 18,862 
voting in favor of it, and 514 against it. The Legislature of 
Virginia, the members of which were elected by authority of 
the Wheeling convention of June 11th, met in extra session, 
called by the Governor appointed by that convention, on the 
6th of May, 1862, and passed an act giving its consent to the 
formation of the new State, and making application to Con- 
gress for its admission into the Union. The question to be 
decided by Congress, therefore, was whether the legislature 
which met at Wheeling on the 11th of June was " the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia," and thus competent to give its consent to the 
formation of a new State within the State of Virginia. The 
bill for admitting it, notwithstanding the opposition of several 
leading and influential Republicans, was passed in the House, 
ayes 96, noes 55. It passed in the Senate without debate, and 
was approved by the President on the 31st of December, 1862. 
A bill was brought forward in the Senate for discussion on 
the 29th of January, proposing a grant of money to aid in the 
abolition of slavery in the State of Missouri. It gave rise to a 
good deal of debate, some Senators doubting whether Congress 
had any constitutional right to make such an appropriation, 
and a marked diflference of opinion, moreover, growing up as 
to the propriety of gradual or immediate emancipation in that 
State. Mr. Sumner, Mr. Wilson, and several others, insisted 
that the aid proposed should be granted only on condition 
that emancipation should be immediate ; while the Senators 
from Missouri tlionght that the State would be much more 



336 PEEsiDEXT Lincoln's administeation. 

certaiQ to provide for getting rid of slavery if the time were 
extended to twenty-three years, as the bill proposed, than if 
she were reqnircd to set free all her slaves at once. The 
Senators from the Slave States generally opposed the measure, 
on the ground that Congress had no authority under the 
Constitution to appropriate any portion of the public money 
for such a purpose. The bill was finally passed in the Senate, 
but it failed to pass the House. 

Two members of Congress from the State of Louisiana 
were admitted to seats in the House of Representatives under 
circumstances which made that action of considerable im- 
portance. Immediately after the occupation of New Orleans 
by the national forces under General Butler, the President had 
appointed General Shepley military governor of the State 
of Louisiana. The rebel forces were driven out from the city 
of New Orleans, and some of the adjoining parishes; and 
when, during the ensuing summer, the people were invited to 
resume their allegiance to the Government of the United 
States, over 60,000 came forward, took the oath of allegiance, 
and were admitted to their rights as citizens. On the 3d of 
December General Shepley, acting as military governor of the 
State, ordered an election for members of Congress in the two 
districts into which the city of New Orleans is divided — each 
district embracing also some of the adjoining parishes. In 
one of these districts B. F, Flanders was elected, receiving 
2,370 votes, and all others 273, and in the other Michael 
Ilahn was elected, receiving 2,799 votes out of 5,117, the whole 
number cast. A committee of the House, to which the applica- 
tion of these gentlemen for admission to their seats had been 
referred, reported, on the 9th of February, in favor of their 
claim. It was represented in this report that the requirements 
of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana had in all re- 
spects been complied with, the only question being, whether 
a military governor, appointed by the President of the United 



CLOSE or TUE SESSION. 337 

States, could properly and rightfully perform the functions of 
the civil governor of the State. The committee held that he 
could, and cited a decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, not only recognizing the power of the President to 
appoint a military governor, but also recognizing both his civil 
and military functions as of full validity and binding obligation. 
On the other hand, it was maintained that representatives can 
be elected to the Federal Legislature only in pursuance of an 
act of the State Legislature, or of an act of the Federal Con- 
gress. In this case neither of these requirements had been 
fulfilled. The House, however, admitted both these gentlemen 
to their seats, by a vote of 92 to 44. 

Before adjourning, Congress passed an act, approved on the 
3d of March, authorizing the President, " in all domestic and. 
foreign wars," to issue to private armed vessels of the United. 
States, letters of marque and reprisal, — said authority to 
terminate at the end of three years from the date of the act. 
Resolutions were also adopted, in both Houses, protesting 
against every proposition of foreign interference, by proffers 
of mediation or otherwise, as "unreasonable and inadmissible," 
and declaring the " unalterable purpose of the United States 
to prosecute the war until the rebellion shall be overcome." 
These resolutions, offered by Mr. Sumner, received in the 
Senate 31 votes in their favor, while but 5 were cast against 
them, and in the House 103 were given for their passage, and 
28 against it. 

The session closed on the 4th of March, 18G3. Its pro- 
ceedings had been marked by the same thorough and fixed 
determination to carry on the war, by the use of the most 
vigorous and effective measures for the suppression of the 
rebellion, and by the same full and prompt support of the 
President, which had characterized the preceding Congress. 

While some members of the Administration party, becom- 
ing impatient of the delays which seemed to mark the progress 
15 



338 PRESIDE^'T LINCOLIS'S ADMINISTRATION. 

of the war, were inclined to censure the caution of the Presi- 
dent, and to insist upon bolder and more sweeping assaults 
upon the persons and property of the people of the Rebel 
States, and especially upon the institution of slavery — and 
while, on the other hand, its more open opponents denounced 
every thing like severity, as calculated to exasperate the South 
and prolong the war, the great body of the members, like 
the great body of the people, manifested a steady and. firm 
reliance on the patriotic purpose and the calm sagacity 
evinced by the President in his conduct of public aflfairs. 



THE MATl'EK OF AEBITEAEY AEEESTS. 339 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ARBITRARY ARRESTS. THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT OF 

HABEAS CORPUS. THE DRAFT. 

At the very outbreak of the rebellion, the Administration 
was compelled to face one of the most formidable of the many 
difficulties which have embarrassed its action. Long before 
the issue had been distinctly made by the rebels in the 
Southern States, while under the protecting toleration of Mr. 
Buchanan's administration the conspirators were making 
j)reparations for armed resistance to the Government of the 
United States, evidences were not wanting that they relied 
upon the active co-operation of men and parties in the Northern 
States, whose political sympathies had always been in harmony 
with their principles and their action. As early as in Jan- 
uary, 1861, while the rebels were diligently and actively 
collecting arms and other munitions of war, by purchase in 
the Northern States, for the contest on which they had re- 
solved, Fernando Wood, then Mayor of New York, had 
apologized to Senator Toombs, of Georgia, for the seizure 
by the police of New York of " arms intended for and con- 
signed to the State of Georgia," and had assured him that 
" if he had the power he should summarily punish the authors 
of this illegal and unjustifiable seizure of private property," 
The departments at Washington, the army and the navy, all 
places of responsibility and trbst under the Government, and 
all departments of civil and political activity in the Northern 
States, were found to be largely tilled by persons in active 
sympathy with the secession movement, and ready at all times 
to give it all the aid and comfort in their power. Upon the 



340 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S AI>MINISTEATION. 

advent of the new Administration, and when active measures 
began to be taken for the suppression of the rebellion, the 
Government found its plans betrayed and its movements 
thwarted at every turn. Prominent presses and politicians, 
moreover, throughout the countiy, began, by active hostility, 
to indicate their sympathy with those who sought, under 
cover of opposition to the Administration, to overthrow the 
Government, and it became speedily manifest that there was 
sufficient of treasonable sentiment throughout the Narth to 
paralyze the authorities in their efforts, aided only by the or- 
dinary machinery of the law, to crush the secession movement. 
Under these circumstances it was deemed necessary to resort 
to the exercise of the extraordinary powers with which, in 
extraordinary emergencies, the Constitution had clothed the 
Government. That instrument had pro-vided that " the privi- 
lege of the writ of habeas corpus should not be suspended ; 
unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety might require it." By necessary implication, whenever, 
in such cases either of rebellion or invasion, the public safety 
did require it, the privilege of that writ might be suspended ; 
and, from the very necessity of the case, the Government 
which was charged with the care of the public safety, was 
empowered to judge when the contingency should occur. The 
only question that remained was, which department of the 
Government was to meet this responsibility. If the act was 
one of legislation, it could only be performed by Congress 
and the President ; if it was in its nature executive, then it 
might be performed, the emergency requiring it, by the Presi- 
dent alone. The pressing emergency of the case, moreover, 
went far towards dictating the -decision. Congress had ad- 
journed on the 4th of March, and could not be again assem- 
bled for some montlis ; and infinite, and perhaps fatal mischief 
might be done during the interval, if the Northern allies of the 
rebellion were allowed with impunity to prosecute their plans. 



FIEST SUSPENSIOIT OF THE HABEAS CORPUS. 341 

Under the influence of these considerations the President, 
in his proclamation of the 3d of May, 1861, directing the 
comrnander of the forces of the United States on the Florida 
coast to permit no person to exercise any authority upon the 
islands of Key West, the Tortugas, and Santa Rosa, which 
might be inconsistent with the authority of the United States, 
also authorized him, "if he should find it necessary, to sus- 
pend tlie writ of Jmbeus corpus, and to remove from the 
vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous or sus- 
pected persons." This was the first act of the Administration 
in tliat direction; but it was very soon found necessary to 
resort to the exercise of the same powers in other sections of 
the country. On the 25th of May, John Merryraan, a resident 
of Ilayfield, in Baltimore County, Maryland, known by the 
Government to be in communication with the rebels, and to 
be giving them aid and comfort, was arrested and imprisoned 
in Fort MeHenry, then commanded by General Cadwallader, 
On the same day he forwarded a petition to Roger B, Taney, 
Chief-Justiee of the United States, reciting the circumstances 
of liis arrest, and praying for the issue of the writ of habeas 
corpus. The writ was forthwith issued, and General Cadwal- 
lader was ordered to bring the body of Merryman before the 
Chief-Justice on the 27th. On that day Colonel Lee pre- 
sented a written communication from General Cadwallader, 
stating that Merryman had been arrested and committed to 
his custody by officers acting under the authority of the 
United States, charged with various acts of ti-eason, with 
holding a commission as lieut-enant in a company avowing its 
purpose of armed hostility against the Government, and with 
having made often and unreserved declarations of his associa- 
tion with this armed force, and of his readiness to co-operate with 
those engaged in the present rebellion against the Government 
of the United States. Tiie General added that he was " duly 
authorized by the President of the United States to suspend 



342 PiiESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION". 

the writ of habeas corpus for the public safety ;" and that, 
while he fully appreciated the delicacy of the trust, he was also 
instructed " that, in times of civil strife, errors, if any, should 
be on the side of safety to the country." The commanding 
General accordingly declined to obey the writ, whereupon an 
attachment was forthwith issued against him for contempt of 
court, made returnable at noon on the next day. On that 
day, the marshal charged with serving the attachment made 
return that he was not admitted within the fortress, and had 
consequently been unable to serve the writ. The Chief-Jus- 
tice, thereupon, read an opinion that the President could not 
suspend the writ of habeas corpus, nor authorize any military 
oflficer to do so, and that a military officer had no right to 
arrest any person, not subject to the rules and articles of war, 
for an offence against the laws of the United States, except in 
aid of the judicial authority, and subject to its control. The 
Chief-Justice stated further, that the marshal had the power to 
summon out the posse comitatus to enforce the service of the 
writ, but as it was apparent that it would be resisted by a force 
notoriously superior, the Court could do nothing further in the 
premises. 

On the 12th of May, another writ was issued by Judge 
Giles, of Baltimore, to Major Morris, of the United States 
Artillery, at Fort McHcnry, who, in a letter dated the 14th, 
refused to obey the writ, because at the time it was issued, 
and for two weeks previous, the city of Baltimore had been 
corqpletely under the control of the rebel authorities — United 
States soldiers had been murdered in the streets — the intention 
to capture that fort had been openly proclaimed, and the 
Legislature of the State was at that moment debating the 
question of making war upon the Government of the United 
States. All this, in his judgment, constituted a case of 
rebellion, and afforded sufficient legal cause for suspend- 
ing the writ of habeas corpus. Similar cases arose, and 



AID AND COMFORT TO THE REBELS. 343 

were disposed of in a similar manner, in other sections of the 
country. 

The Governor of Virginia had proposed to Mr. G. Heincken, 
of New York, the agent of the New York and Virginia Steam- 
ship Company, payment for two steamers of that line, the 
Yorktown and Jamestown, which he had seized for the rebel 
service, an acceptance of which proffer, Mr, Heincken was in- 
formed, would be treated as an act of treason to the Govern- 
ment ; and on his application, Mr, Seward, the Secretary of 
State, gave him the following reasons for this decision : 

An insurrection has broken out in several of the States of this Union, 
including Virginia, designed to overthrow the Government of the 
United States. The executive authorities of that State are parties to 
that insurrection, and so are public enemies. Their action in seizing or 
buying vessels to be employed in executing that design, is not merely 
without authority of law, but is treason. It is treason for any person to 
give aid and comfort to public enemies. To sell vessels to them which 
it is their purpose to use as ships of war, is to give them aid and com- 
fort. To receive money from them in payment for vessels which they 
have seized for those purposes, would be to attempt to convert the un- 
lawful seizure into a sale, and would subject the party so offending to 
the pains and penalties of treason, and the Government would not hesi- 
tate to bring the offender to punishment. 

These acts and decisions of the Government were vehe- 
mently assailed by the party opponents of the Administration, 
and led to the most violent and intemperate assaults upon the 
Government in many of the public prints. Some of these 
journals were refused the privilege of the public mails, the 
Government not holding itself under any obligation to aid in 
circulating assaults upon its own authority, and stringent 
restrictions were placed upon the transmission of intelligence 
by telegraph. On the 5th of July, 1862, Attorney-General 
Bates transmitted to the President an elaborate opinion, pre- 
pared at his request, upon his power to make arrests of per- 
sons known to have criminal intercourse with the insurgents, 



344 PRESIDENT lijccoln's administkatiox. 

or against whom there is probable cause for suspicion of such 
criminal complicity, — and also upon his rigbt to refuse to 
obey a writ of habeas corpus in case of such arrests. The 
Attorney-General discussed the subject at considerable length, 
and reached a conclusion favorable to the action of the Gov- 
ernment. From that time forward the Government exerted, 
with vigor and energy, all the power thus placed in its hands 
to prevent the rebellion from receiving aid from those in sym- 
pathy with its objects in the Northern States. A large num- 
ber of persons, believed to be in complicity with the insur- 
gents, were placed in arrest, but were released upon taking an 
oath of allegiance to the United States. Baltimore continued 
for some time to be the head-quarters of conspiracies and 
movements of various kinds in aid of the rebellion, and the 
arrests were consequently more numerous there than else- 
where. Indeed, very strenuous efforts were made throughout 
the summer to induce some action on the part of the Legisla- 
ture which should place the State in alliance with the rebel 
Confederacy, and it was confidently believed that an ordinance 
looking to this end would be passed at the extra session which 
was convened for the 17th of September ; but on the 16th 
nine secession members of the House of Delegates, with the 
officers of both houses, were arrested by General McClellan, 
then in command of the army, who expressed his full appro- 
bation of the proceedings, and the session was not held. 

The President at the time gave the following statement of 
his views in regard to these arrests : 

The public safety renders it necessary that the grounds of these 
arrests should at present be withheld, but at the proper time they will 
be made public. Of one thing the people of Maryland may rest as- 
sured, that no arrest has been made, or will be made, not based on 
Bubstantial and unmistakable complicity with those in armed rebelUon 
against the Government of the United States. In no ease has an arrest 
been made on mere suspicion, or through personal or partisan animosi- 



EXECUTIVE OKDEU ABOUT ARRESTS. 345 

ties, but in all cases the Govcrnmeut is in possession of tangible and 
unmistakable evidence, which will, when made public, be satisfactory 
to every loyal citizen. 

Arrests continued to be made under authority of the 
State Department, not without complaint, certainly, from large 
numbers of the people, but with the general acquiescence of the 
whole community, and beyond all question greatly to the 
advantage of the Government and the country. On the 14th 
of February, 1862, an order was issued on the subject, which 
transferred control of the whole matter to the War Depart- 
ment. The circumstances which had made these arrests 
• necessary are stated with so much clearness and force in that 
order, that we insert it at length as follows : 

ESECUTIVE ORDERS IN RELATION TO STATE PRISONERS. 

War Department, Washington, Feb. 14. 

The breaking out of a formidable insurrection, based on a conflict of 
political ideas, being an event without precedent in the United States, 
was necessarily attended by great confusion and perplexity of the pub- 
lic mind. Disloyalty, before unsuspected, suddenly became bold, and 
treason astonished the world by bringing at once into the field military 
forces superior in numbers to the standing army of the United States. 

Every department of the Government was paralyzed by treason. 
Defection appeared in the Senate, in the House of Representatives, in 
the Cabinet, in the Federal Courts; Ministers and Consuls returned 
from foreign countries to enter the insurrectionary councils, or land or 
naval forces ; commandmg and other oEScers of the army and in the 
navy betrayed the councils or deserted their posts for commands in the 
insurgent forces. Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post- 
olBce service, as well as in the territorial governments and in the In- 
dian reserves. 

Not only Governors, Judges, Legislators, and ministerial officers in 
the States, but even whole States, ruslied, one after another, with ap- 
parent unanimity, into rebellion. The capital was besieged and its con- 
nection with all the States cut off. 

Even in the portions of the country which were most loyal, political 
combinations and secret societies were formed furthering the work of 
15* 



346 PRESIDENT LINCOLX'S ADMINISTRATION'. 

disunion, while, from motives of disloyalty or cupidity, or from excited 
passions or perverted sympathies, individuals were found furnishing 
men, money, and materials of war and supplies to the insurgents' mili- 
tary and naval forces. Armies, ships, fortifications, navy yards, arse- 
n;ds, military posts and garrisons, one after another, were betrayed or 
abandoned to the insurgents. 

Congress had not anticipated and so had not provided for the emer- 
gency. The municipal authorities were powerless and inactive. The 
judicial machinery seemed as if it had been designed not to sustain the 
Government, but to embarrass and betray it. 

Foreign intervention, openly invited and industriously instigated by 
the abetters of the insurrection, became imminent, and has only been 
prevented by the practice of strict and impartial justice with the most 
perfect moderation in our intercourse with nations. 

The public mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately 
not distracted or disheartened. It seemed to be doubtful whether the 
Federal Government, which one year before had been thought a model 
worthy of universal acceptance, had indeed ^ho ability to defend and 
maintain itself. 

Some reverses, which perhaps were unavoidable, suffered by newly 
levied and inefficient forces, (discouraged the loyal, and gave new hopes 
to the insurgents. Voluntary enlistments seemed about to cease, and 
desertions commenced. Parties speculated upon the question whether 
conscription had not become necessary to fiU up the armies of the United 
States. 

In this emergency the President felt it his duty to employ with 
energy the extraordinary powers which the Constitution confides to him 
in cases of insurrection. He called into the field such military and 
naval forces, unauthorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. 
He directed measures to prevent the use of the post-office for treasona- 
ble correspondence. He subjected passengers to and from foreign 
countries to new passport regulations, and he instituted a blockade, 
suspended the writ of habeas corpu<^ in various places, and caused per- 
sons who were represented to him as being or about to engage in dis- 
loyal and treasonable practices to bo arrested by special civil as weU as 
military agencies, and detained in military custody, when necessary, to 
prevent them and deter others from such practices. Examinations of 
such cases wore instituted, and some of the persons so arrested have 
been discliarged from time to time, under circumstances or upon condi- 
tions compatible, as was thought, with the public safety. 



APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSIONEE ON ABEESTS. 347 

Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has occurred. The 
line between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined ; the whole struc- 
ture of the Government is firm and stable; apprehensions of public dan- 
ger and facilities for treasonable practices have diminished with the 
passions which prompted heedless persons to adopt them. The insur- 
rection is believed to have culminated and to be declining. 

The President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return 
to the normal course of the Administration, as far as regard for the 
public welfare will allow, directs that all pohtical prisoners or State 
prisoners now held in military custody, be released on their subscribing 
to a parole engaging them to render no aid or comfort to the enemies 
in hostility to the United States. 

The Secretary of War will, however, at his discretion, except from 
the effect of this order any persons detained as spies in the service of 
the insurgents, or others whose release at the present moment may be 
deemed incompatible with the pubhc safety. 

To all persons who shall be so released, and who shall keep their 
parole, the President grants an amnesty for any past offences of treason 
or disloyalty which they may have committed. 

Extraordinary arrests wQl hereafter be made under the direction of 
the military authorities alone. 

By order of the President : 

Edwin M. Staxton, Secretary of War. 

On the 27th of the same month, a Commission was ap- 
pointed by the War Department, consisting of Major-General 
Dix and Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, to examine 
into the cases of the State prisoners then remaining in custody, 
and to determine whether, in view of the public safety and 
the existing rebellion,, they should be discharged, or remain 
in arrest, or be remitted to the civil tribunals for trial. These 
gentlemen entered at once upon the discharge of their duties, 
and a large number of prisoners were released from custody 
on taking the oath of allegiance. Wherever the public safety 
seemed to require it, however, arrests continued to be made — 
the President, in every instance, assuming all the responsi- 
bility of these acts, and throwing himself upon the Courtis 



348 PRESIDENT LITSrCOLN S ADMIJ^STKATION. 

and the judgment of the country for his vindication. But 
the President himself had not up to this time directed any 
general suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, or given any 
public notice of the rules by which the Government would be 
guided in its action upon cases that might arise. It was left 
to the Secretary of War to decide in what instances and for 
■what causes arrests should be made, and the privilege of the 
writ should be suspended. In some of the Courts into which 
these cases were brought, the ground was accordingly taken 
that, although the President might have authority under 
the Constitution, when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, 
the public safety should require it, to suspend the writ, he 
could not delegate that authority to any subordinate. To 
meet this case, therefore, the President, on the 24th of Sep- 
tember, 1862, issued the following 

PROCLAMATIOX. 

WheTeas, it has been necessary to call into service, not only volun- 
teers, but also portions of the militia of the States by draft, in order to 
suppress the insurrection existing in the United States, and disloyal 
persons are not adeq\iately restrained by the ordinary processes of law 
from hindering this measure, and from giving aid and comfort in various 
ways to the insurrection, 

Now, therefore, be it ordered — 

First, That during the existing insurrection, and as a necessary 
measure for suppressing the same, all rebels and insurgents, their aiders 
and abettors, within the United States, and all persons discouraging 
volunteer enlistments, resisting military drafts^ or guilty of any disloyal 
practice aftbrding aid and comfort to the rebels against the authority of 
the United States, shall bo subject to martial law, and liable to trial 
and punishment by courts-martial or military commission. 

Second, That the writ of habeas corpus is suspended in respect to all 
persons arrested, or who are now, or hereafter during the rebellion 
shall be, imprisoned in any fort, camp, arsenal, military prison, or other 
place of confinement, by any military authority, or by the sentence of 
nny court-martial or military commission. 



■ OPPOSITIOlSr TO THE GOVBENMENT. 349 

In ■n-itness whereof I liave hereunto set my hand and seal, and caused 
the seal of the United States to be afQxed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-fourth day 
of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
[l. s.] eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence 
of the United States the eighty-seventh. 

Abraham Lincoln. 
By the President: 

"William H. Skwarb, Secretary nf State. 

This proclamation was accompanied by orders from the 
War Department appointing a Provost Marshal-General, whose 
bead-quarters were to be at Washington, with special provost- 
marshals, one or more, in each State, charged with the duty of 
arresting deserters and disloyal persons, and of inquiring into 
treasonable practices throughout the country. They were 
authorized to call upon either the civil or military authority for 
aid in the discharge of their duties, and were required to re- 
port to th.e Department at Washington. The creation of this 
new Department had been made necessary by the increased 
activity of the enemies of the Government throughout the 
North, and by the degree of success which had attended their 
efforts. Prompted partly by merely political and partisan 
motives, but in many instances by thorough sympathy with 
the secession movement, active political, leaders had set in 
vigorous motion very extensive machinery for the advance- 
ment of their designs. "Peace meetings" were held in every 
section of the Northern States, at which the action of the 
Government was most vehemently assailed, the objects of the 
war were misrepresented, and its prosecution denounced, and 
special eflbrts made to prevent enlistments, to promote deser- 
tions, and in every way to cripple the Government in its 
efforts to subdue the rebellion by force of arms. The vigorous 
action of the Government, however, in arresting men con- 
spicuous in these disloyal practices, had created a salutary re- 



350 PBESIDENT LINCOLNS ADMINISTRATION. 

action in the public mind, and had so far relieved the Admin- 
istration from apprehension as to warrant the promulgation of 
the following order : 

War Depaetmext, "Washingtom, Nov. 22, 1862. 
Ordered — 1. That all persons now in military custody, who have been 
arrested for discouraging volunteer enlistments, opposing the draft, or 
for otherwise giving aid and comfort to the enemy, in States where the 
draft has been made, or the quota of volunteers and mUitia has been 
furnished, shaU be discharged from further military restraint. ■ 

2. The persons who, by the authority of the military commander or 
governor in rebel States, have been arrested and sent from such State 
for disloyalty or hostihty to the Government of the United States, and 
are now in military custody, may also be discharged upon giving their 
parole to do no act of hostility against the Government of the United 
States, nor render aid to its enemies. But all such persons shall remain 
subject to military surveillance and liable to arrest on breach of their 
parole. And if any such persons shall prefer to leave the loyal States 
on condition of their not returning again during the war, or until special 
leave for that purpose be obtained from the President, then such person 
shall, at his option, be released and depart from the United States, or bo 
conveyed beyond the military lines of the United States forces. 

3. This order shall not operate to discharge any person who has been 
in arms against the Government, or by force and arras has resisted or 
attempted to resist the draft, nor relieve any person from liability to 
trial and punishment by civil tribunals, or by court-martial or military 
commission, who may be amenable to such tribunals for offences com- 
mitted. 

By order of the Secretary of War : 

E. D. TowxsEND, Absistant Adjutant- General 

During the succeeding winter, while Congress was in 
session, public sentiment was comparatively at rest on this 
subject. Congress had enacted a law, sanctioning the action 
of the President in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, 
and clothing him with full authority to check and punish all 
attempt's to defeat the efforts of the Government in the prose- 
cution of the war. After the adjournment, however, when the 
political activity of the country was transferred from the 



THE CASE OF VALLAKDIGHAM. 351 

Capital to the people in their respective localities, the party 
agitation was revived, and public meetings were again held to 
denounce the conduct of the Government, and to protest 
against the farther prosecution of the war. One of the most 
active of these advocate^ of peace with the rebel Confederacy 
was Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, a member of Congress from 
Ohio, who had steadily opposed all measures for the prosecu- 
tion of the war throughout the session. After the adjourn- 
ment he made a political canvass of his district, and in a 
speech at Mount Vernon, on the 1st of May, he denounced the 
Government at Washington as aiming, in the conduct of the 
■war, not to restore the Union, but to crush out liberty and es- 
tablish a despotism. He declared that the war was waged for 
the freedom of the blacks and the enslaving of the whites — 
that the Government could have had peace long before if it 
had desired it — that the mediation of France ought to have 
been accepted, and that the Government ad doliberately re- 
jected propositions by which the Southern States could have 
been brought back to the Union. He also denounced an 
order, No. 38, issued by General Burnside, in command of the 
Department, forbidding certain disloyal practices, and giving 
notice that persons declaring sympathy for the enamy would bo 
arrested for trial, proclaimed his intention to disobey it, and 
called on the people who heard him to resist and defeat its 
execution. 

For this speech Mr. Vallandigham was arrested, by order of 
General Burnside, on the 4th of May, and ordered for trial 
before a court-martial at Cincinnati. On the 5th, he applied, 
through his counsel. Senator Pugh, to the Circuit Court of the 
United States for a writ of habeas corjms. In reply to this 
application, a letter was read from General Burnside, setting 
forth the considerations which had led him to make the arrest, 
and Vallandigham's counsel was then heard in a very long argu- 
ment on the case. Judge Stewart pronounced his decision, 



352 PRESIDENT LIXCOL:!«r'S ADMINISTEATIOi!f. 

refusing the writ, on the ground that the action of General 
Barnside was necessary for the public safety. " The legality 
of the arrest," said the judge, " depends upon the extent of 
the necessity for making it, and that was to be determined by 
the military commander." And he adds : 

Men sliould know and lay the truth to heart, that there is a course of 
conduct not involving ove.t treason, and not therefore subject to pun- 
ishment as such, which, nevertheless, implies moral guUt, and a gross 
offence against the country. Those who live under the protection and 
enjoy the blessings of our benignant Government, must learn that they 
cannot stab its vitals with impunity. If they cherish hatred and hos- 
tility to it, and desire its subversion, let them withdraw from its juris- 
diction, and seek the fellowship and protection of those with whom 
they are in sympatliy. If they remain with us, while they are not of 
us, they must be subject to such a course of dealing as the great law of 
self-preservatiou prescribes and will enforce. And let them not com- 
plain if the stringent doctrine of military necessity should find them to 
bo the legitimate subjects of its action. I have no fear that the recog- 
nition of this doctrine wiU lead to an arbitrary invasion of the personal 
security, or personal liberty, of the citizen. It is rare indeed that a 
charge of disloyalty will be made on insufficient grounds. But if there 
should be an occasional mistake, such an occurrence is not to be put in 
competition with the preservation of the nation ; and I confess I am but 
little moved by the eloquent appeals of those who, while they indig- 
nantly denounce violation of personal liberty, look with no horror upon 
a despotism as unmitigated as the world has ever witnessed. 

The military commission, before which Vallandighara was 
ordered for trial, met on the 6th, found hira guilty of the 
principal offences charged, and sentenced him to be placed in 
close confinement in some fortress of the United States, to be 
designated by the commanding officer of that Department. 
Major-Gcneral Burnside approved the sentence, and designated 
Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, as the place of confinement. 
The President modified this sentence by directing that, in- 
stead of being imprisoned, Mr. Vallandigham should be sent 
within the rebel lines, and should not return to the United 



GOV. SEYMOUR ON VALLANDIGHAM. 853 

States until after tlie termination of the war. This sentence 
was at once carried into execution. 

The arrest, trial, and sentence of Mr. Vallandigham created 
a good deal of excitement throughout the country. The op- 
ponents of the Administration treated it as a case of martyr- 
dom, and held public meetings for the purpose of denouncing 
the action of the Govornment as tyrannical and highly dan- 
gerous to the public liberties. One of the earliest of these 
demonstrations was held at Albany, on the 16th of May, at 
which Hon. Erastus Corning presided, and to which Governor 
Seymour addressed a letter, jexpressing in the strongest terms 
his condemnation of the course pursued by the Government. 
" If this proceeding,'' said he, speaking of the arrest of Val- 
landigham, "is approved by the Government, and sanctioned 
by the people, it is not merely a step towards revolution, — it 
is revolution. It will not only lead to military despotism, — it 
establishes military despotism. In this aspect it must be 
accepted, or in this aspect rejected. * * The people of 
this country now wait with the deepest anxiety the decision 
of the Administration upon these acts. Having given it a 
generous support in the conduct of the war, we pause to see 
what kind of a government it is for which we are asked to 
pour out our blood and our treasure. The action of the Ad- 
ministration will determine, in the minds of more than one- 
half of the people of the loyal States, whether this war is 
waged to put down rebellion at the South, or destroy free 
institutions at the North." The resolutions which were 
adopted at this meeting pledged the Democratic party of the 
State to the preservation of the Union, but condemned in 
strong terms the whole system of arbitrary arrests, and the 
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. 

A copy of these resolutions was forwarded by the presiding 
officer to President Lincoln, who sent the following letter in 
reply : 



354 PKESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 



Executive Mansion, Washington, June 13, 1863. 
Hon. Erastus Corning and others : 

Gentlemen: Tour letter of May 19, inclosing the resolutions of a 
public meeting held at Albany, N. Y., on the 16th of the same month, 
was received several days ago. 

The resolutions, as I understand them, are resolvable into two propo- 
sitions — first, the expression of a purpose to sustain the cause of the 
Union, to secure peace through victory, and to support the Administra- 
tion in every constitutional and lawful measure to suppress the rebellion ; 
and, secondly, a declaration of censure upon the Administration for 
supposed unconstitutional action, such as the making of military arrests. 
And from the two propositions a third is deduced, which is, that the 
gentlemen composing the meeting are resolved on doing their part to 
maintain our common Government and country, despite the folly or 
wickedness, as they may conceive, of any Administration. This posi- 
tion is eminently patriotic, and as such I thank the meering and con- 
gratulate the nation for it. My own purpose is the same, so that the 
meeting and myself have a common object, and can have no difiTerence, 
except in the choice of means or measures for effecting that object. 

And here I ought to close this paper, and would close it, if there were 
no appreliension that more injurious consequences than any merely 
personal to myself might follow the censures systematically cast upon 
me for doing what, in my view of duty, I could not forbear. The reso- 
lutions promise to support me in every constitutional and lawful meas- 
ure to suppress the rebellion, and I have not knowingly employed, nor 
shall knowingly employ, any other. But the meeting, by their resolutions, 
assert and argue that certain military arrests, and proceedings follow- 
ing them, for which I am ultimately responsible, are unconstitutional. 
I think they are not. The resolutions quote from the Constitution 
the definition of treason, and also the limiting safeguards and guaran- 
tees therein provided for the citizen on trial for treason, and on his being 
held to answer for capital, or otherwise infamous crimes, and, in 
criminal prosecutions, his right to a speedy and public trial by an im- 
partial jury. They proceed to resolve, " that these safeguards of the 
rights of the citizen against the pretensions of arbitrary power were 
intended more especially for his protection in times of civil commotion." 

And, apparently to demonstrate the proposition, the resolutions pro- 
ceed: "They were secured substantially to the English people after 
years of protracted civil war, and were adopted into our Constitution at 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON AEKESTS. 355 

the dose of the Revolution." TVould not the demonstration have been 
better if it could have been truly said that these safeguards had been 
adopted and applied during the civil wars and during our Revolution, 
instead of after the one and at the close of the other ? I, too, am de- 
votedly for them after civil war, and before civil war, and at all times, 
" except when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the pubhc safety may 
require" their suspension. The resolutions proceed to tell us that these 
safeguards " have stood the test of seventy-six years of trial, under 
our republican system, under circumstances whicli show that, while 
they constitute the foundation of all free government, they are the 
elements of the enduring stability of the Republic." No one denies 
that they have so stood the test up to the beginning of the present 
rebellion, if we except a certain occurrence at New Orleans ; nor does 
any one question that they will stand the same test much longer after 
the rebellion closes. But these provisions of the Constitution have no 
application to the case we have in hand, because the arrests complained 
of were not made for treason — that is, not for the treason defined in the 
Constitution, and upon conviction of which the punishment is death — 
nor yet were they made to hold persons to answer for any capital or 
otherwise infamous crimes ; nor were the proceedings following, in any 
constitutional or legal sense, "criminal prosecutions." The arrests 
were made on totally different grounds, and the proceedings following 
accorded with the grounds of the arrest. Let us consider the real case 
with which we are dealing, and apply to it the parts of the Constitution 
plainly made for such cases. 

Prior to my installation here, it had been inculcated that any State 
had a lawful right to secede from the national Union, and that it would 
be expedient to exercise the right whenever the devotees of the doctrine 
should fail to elect a President to their own liking. I was elected con- 
trary to their hking, and accordingly, so far as it was legally possible, 
they had taken seven States out of the Union, had seized many of the 
United States forts, and had fired upon the United States flag, all before 
I was inaugurated, and, of course, before I had done any official act 
whatever. The rebellion thus began soon ran into the present civil 
war ; and, in certain respects, it began on very unequal terms between 
the parties. The insurgents had been preparing for it more than thirty 
years, while the Government had taken no steps to resist them. The 
former had carefuUy considered aU the means which could be turned 
to their account. It undoubtedly was a well-pondered reliance with 
them that, in their own unrestricted efforts to destroy Union, Constitu- 



356 PKESiDENT Lincoln's ADraiNisxBATiox. 

tion, and law altogether, the Government would, in great degree, be 
restrained by the same Constitution and law from arresting their pro- 
gress. Their sympathizers pervaded all departments of the Govern- 
ment, and nearly all communities of the people. From this material, 
under cover of "hbertyof speech," "liberty of the press," and "habeas 
corpus," they hoped to lieep on foot among us a most efiBcient corps 
of spies, informers, suppliers, and aiders and abettors of their cause in 
a thousand ways. They knew that in times such as they were inau- 
gurating, by the Constitution itself, the " habeas corpus" might be sus- 
pended ; but they also knew they had friends who would make a (ques- 
tion as to who was to suspend it : meanwhile, their spies and others 
might remain at large to help on their cause. Or if, as has happened, 
the Executive should suspend the writ, without ruinous waste of time, 
instances of arresting innocent persons might occur, as are always hkely 
to occur in such cases, and then a clamor could be raised in regard to 
this which might be, at least, of some service to the insurgent cause. It 
needed no very keen perception to discover this part of the enemy's pro- 
gramme, so soon as, by open hostilities, their machinery was put fairly 
in motion. Yet, thoroughly imbued with a reverence for the guaranteed 
rights of individuals, I was slow to adopt the strong measures which 
by degrees I have been forced to regard as being within the exceptions 
of the Constitution, and as indispensable to the public safety. Nothing 
is better known to history than that courts of justice are utterly incom- 
petent to such cases. Civil courts are organized chiefly for trials of in- 
dividuals, or, at most, a few individuals acting in concert, and this in 
quiet times, and on charges 5f crimes well defined in the law. Even in 
times of peace, bands of horse-thieves and robbers frequently grow too 
numerous and powerful for the ordinary courts of justice. But what 
comparison, in numbers, have such bands ever borne to the insurgent 
sympathizers even in many of the loyal States? Again, a jury too 
frequently has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than 
to hang the traitor. And yet, again, he who dissuades one man from 
volunteering, or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the Union cause 
as mucli as he who kills a Union soldier in battle. Yet this dissuasion 
or inducement may be so conducted as to be no defined crime of which 
any civil court would take cognizance. 

Ours is a case of rebellion — so called by the resolution before me — in 
fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of rebelhon ; and the provision 
of the Constitution tliat " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON MILITARY ARRESTS. 357 

public safety may require it," is (he provision which specially applies to 
our present case. This provision plainly attests the understanding of 
those who made the Constitution, that ordinary courts of justice are in- 
adequate to "cases of rebellion" — attests their purpose that, in such 
cases, men may be held in custody whom the courts, acting on ordinary 
rules, would discharge. Habeas corpus does not discharge men who are 
proved to be guilty of detined crime ; and its suspension is allowed by 
the Constitution on purpose that men may be arrested and held who can- 
not bo proved to be guilty of defined crime, "when, in cases of rebel- 
Uon or invasion, the public salety may require it." This is precisely our 
present case — a case of rebelhon, wherein the public safety does require 
the suspension. Indeed, arrests by process of courts, and arrests in 
cases of rebellion, do not proceed altogether upon the same basis. The 
former is directed at tlie small percentage of ordinary and continuous 
perpetration of crime ; while the latter is directed at sudden and exten- 
sive uprisings against the Government, which at most will succeed or 
fail in no great length of time. In the latter case arrests are made, not 
BO much for what has been done as for what probably would be done. 
The latter is more for the preventive and less for the vindictive than the 
former. In such cases the purposes of men are much more easily under- 
stood than Ln cases of ordinary crime. The man who stands by and says 
nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed, cannot be misun- 
derstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy; much more 
if he talks ambiguously — talks for his country with " buts," and " ifs" 
and " ands." Of how little value the constitutional provisions I have 
quoted will be rendered, if arrests shall never be made until defined 
crimes shall have been committed, may be illustrated by a few notable 
examples. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Joseph 
E. Johnston, Gen. John B. Magruder, Gen. William B. Preston, Gen. 
Simon B. Buckner, and Commodore Franklin Buchanan, now occupying 
the very highest places in the rebel war service, were all within the 
power of the Government since the rebellion began, and were nearly as 
well known to be traitors then aa now. Unquestionably, if we had 
seized and held them, the insurgent cause would be much weaker. But 
no one of them had then committed any crime defined in the law. 
Every one of them, if arrested, would have been discharged on habeas 
corpus, were the writ allowed to operate. In view of these and similar 
cases, I think the time not unUkely to come when I shall be blamed for 
having made too few arrests rather than too many. 

By the third resolution, the meeting indicate their opinion that mili- 



358 president:" Lincoln's administeation. 

tary arrests may be constitutional in localities where rebellion actually 
exists, but that such arrests are unconstitutional in localities where re- 
bellien or insurrection does not actually exist. Tliey insist that such 
arrests shall not be made "outside of the lines of necessary military oc- 
cupation and the scenes of insurrection." Inasmuch, however, as the 
Constitution itself makes no such distinction, I am unable to believe that 
there is any such constitutional distinction. I concede that the class of 
arrests complained of can be constitutional only when, in cases of re- 
bellion or invasion, the public safety may require them ; and I insist 
that in such cases they are constitutional uherever the public safety does 
require them ; as well in places to which they may prevent the rebellion 
extending as in those where it may be already prevailing ; as well where 
they may restrain mischievous interference with the raising and supply- 
ing of armies to suppress the rebellion, as where the rebellion may 
actually be ; as well where they may restrain the enticing men out of 
the army, as where they would prevent mutiny in the army; equally 
constitutional at all places where they will conduce to the public safety, 
as against the dangers of rebeUion or invasion. Take the particular 
case mentioned by the meeting. It is asserted, in substance, that Mr. 
Vallandigham was, by a military commander, seized and tried " for no 
other reason than words addressed to a public meeting, in criticism of 
the course of the Administration, and in condemnation of the military 
orders of the general." Now, if there he no mistake about this ; if this 
assertion is the truth and the whole truth ; if there was no other reason 
for the arrest, then I concede that the arrest was wrong. But the 
arrest, as I understand, was made for a very different reason. Mr. 
Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the part of the Union , 
and his arrest was made because he was laboring, with some effect, to 
prevent the raising of troops ; to encourage desertions from the army ; 
and to leave the rebellion without an adequate military force to sup- 
press it. He was not arrested because he was damaging the pohtical 
prospects of the Administration, or the personal interests of the com- 
manding general, but because he was damaging the army, upon the ex- 
istence and vigor of which the life of the nation depends. He was 
warring upon the military, and this gave the military constitutional 
jurisdiction to lay hands upon him. If Mr. Vallandigham was not 
damaging the military power of the country, then tliis arrest was made 
on mistake of fact, which I would bo glad to correct on reasonably satis- 
factory evidence. 

I understand the meeting, whose resolutions I am considering, to bo 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON MILITARY ARRESTS. 359 

in favor of suppressing the rebellion by military force — by armies. 
Long experience has shown that armies cannot be maintained unless 
desertions shall bo punished by the severe penalty of death. The case 
requires, and the law and the Constitution sanction, this punishment. 
Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must 
not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert ? This is 
none the less injurious when effected by getting a father, or brother, or 
friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings till he 
is persuaded to write the soldier boy that he is fighting in a bad cause, 
for a wicked Administration of a contemptible Government, too weak to 
arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case to 
silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional, but 
■withal a great mercy. 

If I be wrong on this question of constitutional power, my error hes 
in believing that certain proceedings are constitutional when, in cases of 
rebellion or invasion, the public safety requires them, which would not 
be constitutional when, in the absence of rebellion or invasion, the 
public safety does not require them ; in other words, that the Constitu- 
tion is not, in its application, "m all respects the same, in cases of rebel- 
lion or invasion involving the public safety, as it Js in time of profound 
peace and public security. The Constitution itself makes the dis- 
tinction ; and I can no more be persuaded that the Government can 
constitutionally take no strong measures in time of rebellion, because it 
can be shown that the same could not bo lawfully taken in time of 
peace, than I can be persuaded that a particular drug is not good medi- 
cine for a sick man, because it can be shown not to be good food for a 
well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the danger apprehended by the 
meeting that the American people wiU, by means of military arrests 
during the rebellion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of 
speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas 
corpus^ throughout the indefinite peaceful future, which I trust lies be- 
fore them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract 
so strong an appetite for emetics during temporary illness as to persist 
in feeding upon them during the remainder of his healthful life. 

In giving the resolutions that earnest consideration which you request 
of me, I cannot overlook the fact that the meeting speak as " Demo- 
crats." Nor can I, with full respect for their known intelhgence, and 
the fairly presumed deliberation with which they prepared their res- 
olutions, bo permitted to suppose that this occurred by accident, or 
in any way other tlian that they preferred to designate themselves 



360 PEESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMIXISTEATIOX. 

"Democrats" rather than "American citizens." In this time of 
national peril, I would have preferred to meet you on a level one step 
higher than any party platform ; because I am sure that, from such 
more elevated position, we could do better battle for the country we all 
love than we possibly can from those lower ones where, from the force 
of habit, the prejudices of the past, and selfish hopes of the future, we 
are sure to expend much of our ingenuity and strength in finding fault 
with and aiming blows at each other. But, since you have denied me 
this, I will yet be thankful, for the country's sake, that not all Demo- 
crats have done so. He on whose discretionary judgment Mr. Vallan- 
digham was arrested and tried is a Democrat, having no old party 
affinity with me ; and the judge who rejected the constitutional view ex- 
pressed in these resolutions, by refusing to discharge Mr. Yallandigham 
on habeas corpus, is a Democrat of better days than these, having re- 
ceived his judicial mantle at the hands of President Jackson. And still 
more, of all those Democrats who are nobly exposing their hves and 
shedding their blood on the battle field, I have learned that many 
approve the course taken with Mr. Vallandigbam, while I have not 
heard of a single one condemning it. I cannot assert that there are 
none such. And the name of Jackson recalls an incident of pertinent 
history: After the battle of New Orleans, and while the fact that the 
treaty of peace had been concluded was well known in the city, but be- 
fore official knowledge of it had arrived. General Jackson stiU maintained 
martial or military law. Now that it could be said the war was over, 
the clamor against martial law, which had existed from the first, grew 
more furious. Among other things, a Mr. Louiallier published a denun- 
ciatory newspaper article. General Jackson arrested him. A lawyer 
by the name of Morrel procured the United States Judge Hall to issue a 
writ of habeas corpus to relieve Mr. LouiaUier. General Jackson 
arrested both the lawyer and the judge. A Mr. Hollander ventured to 
say of some part of the matter that "it was a dirty trick." Genera) 
Jackson arrested him. "When the officer undertook to serve the writ of 
habeas corpiLS, General Jackson took it from him, and sent him away 
with a copy. Holding the judge in custody a few days, the General 
sent him beyond the limits of his encampment, and set him at hberty, 
with an order to remain till tlie ratification of peace should be regularly 
announced, or until the British should have left the Southern coast. 
A day or two more elapsed, the ratification of a treaty of peace wa9 
regularly announced, and the judge and others were fully liberated. A 
few days more, and the judge called General Jackson into court an» 



THE PRESIDENTS LETTEE TO ME. CORNING. 361 

fined him $1,000 for having arrested him and the others named. The 
General paid the fine, and there the matter rested for nearly thirty 
years, when Congress refunded principal and interest. The late 
Senator Douglas, then in the House of Representatives, took a leading 
part in the debates, in which the constitutional question was much dis- 
cussed. I am not prepared to say whom the journals would show to 
have voted for the measure. 

It may be remarked : First, that we had the same Constitution then, 
as now ; secondly, that we then had a case of invasion, and now we 
have a case of rebellion ; and, thirdly, that the permanent right of the 
people to public discussion, the liberty of speech and of the press, the 
trial by jury, the law of evidence, and the habeas corpus, suffered no 
detriment whatever by that conduct of General Jackson, or its subse- 
quent approval by the American Congress. 

And yet, let me say that, in my own discretion, I do not know 
whether I would have ordered the arrest of Mr. Yallandigham. Wliilo 
I cannot shift the responsibility from myself, I hold that, as a general 
rule, the commander in the field is the better judge of the nece.ssity in 
any particular case. Of course, I must practise a general directory and 
revisory power in the matter. 

One of the resolutions expresses the opinion of the meeting that arbi- 
trary arrests will have the effect to divide and distract those who 
should be united in suppressing the rebellion, and I am specifically 
called on to discharge Mr. VaUandigham. I regard this as, at least, a 
fair appeal to me on the expediency of exercising a constitutional power 
which I think exists. In response to such appeal, I have to say, it 
gave me pain when I learned that Mr. Yallandigham had been arrested 
— that is, I was pained that there should have seemed to be a necessity 
for arresting him — and that it wiU afford me great pleasure to discharge 
him so soon as I can, by any means, believe the pubHc safety will noi 
suffer by it. I further say that, as the war progresses, it appears to 
me, opinion and action which were in great confusion at first, take 
shape and fall into more regular channels, so that the necessity for 
strong dealing with them gradually decreases. I have every reason to 
desire that it should cease altogether ; and far from the least is my re- 
gard for the opinions and wishes of those who, like the meeting at 
Albany, declare their purpose to sustain the Government in every con- 
stitutional and lawful measure to suppress the rebeUion. Still, I must 
continue to do so much as may seem to be required by the public 
safety. A. Lincoln. 

16 



3G2 PEESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

Similar meetings were held in New York, Philadi']i)hia, 
and other cities and towns of the North, and, on the 11th of 
June, a State Convention of the Democratic party was held at 
Columbus, Ohio, for the nomination of State oflScers. Mr. 
Vallandigham was, at that Convention, made the Democratic 
candidate for Governor, receiving, on the first ballot, 448 votes 
out of 461, the whole number cast. Senator Pugh was nomi- 
nated for Lieutenant-Governor, and resolutions were adopted 
protesting against President Lincoln's emancipation procla- 
mation ; condemning martial law in loyal States, where war 
does not exist; denouncing the suspension of the ^vrit of 
habeas corpus', protesting very strongly against the banish- 
ment of Vallandigham, and calling on the President to restore 
him to his rights ; declaring that they would hail with delight 
the desire of the seceded States to return to their allegiance, 
and that they would co-operate with the citizens of those 
States in measures for the restoration of peace. 

A committee of the Convention visited Washington, and on 
the 26th of June presented to the President the resolutions 
adopted by the Convention, and urged the immediate recall 
and restoration of Mr. Vallandigliam, their candidate for 
Governor. To this President Lincoln made the following 
reply : 

WAsmxGTON, June 29, 1R63. 

Gentlemen : The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State Conven- 
tion, which you present me, together with your introductory and closinjj 
remarks, being in position and argument mainly the same as the reso- 
lutions of the Democratic meeting at Albany, New York, I refer you to 
my response to the latter as meeting most of the points in the former. 

This response you evidently used in preparing your remarks, and I 
desire no more than that it bo used with accuracy. In a single reading 
of your remarks, I only discovered one inaccuracy in matter which I 
suppose you took from that paper. It is where you say, " The under- 
Bigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have expressed 
that the Constitution is diflforcnt in time of insurrection or invasion from 
what it is iu time of peace and i)ubnc security."' 



THE PEESIDEJTT TO THE OHIO COMMITTEE. 363 

A recurrence to the paper will show you that I have not expressed 
the opmion you suppose. I expressed the opinion that the Constitution 
is diilercnt in its application in cases of rebellion or invasion, involving 
the public safety, from what it is in times of profound peace and public 
security ; and this opinion I adhere to, simply because by the Constitu- 
tion itself things may be done in the one case which may not be done in 
the other. 

I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal point, but I must re- 
spectfully assure you that you will fihd yourselves at fault should you 
ever seek for evidence to prove your assumption that I " opposed in 
discussions before the people tlie policy of the Mexican war." 

You say : " Expunge from the Constitution this limitation upon the 
power of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpics, and yet the 
other guarantees of personal liberty would remain unchanged." Doubt- 
less, if Uiis clause of the Constitution, improperly called, as I think, a 
limitation upon the power of Congress, were expunged, the other guar 
antees would remain the same ; but the question is, not how those 
guarantees would stand with that clause out of the Constitution, but 
how they stand with that clause remaining in it, in case of rebellion or 
invasion, involving the public safety. If the liberty could be indulged 
in expunging tliat clause, letter and spirit, I really think the constitu- 
tional argument would be with you. 

My general view on this question was stated in the Albany response, 
and lience I do not state it now. I only add that, as seems to me, the 
benefit of the writ of habeas corpics is the great means through which 
the guarantees of personal liberty are conserved and made available in 
the last resort ; and corroborative of this view is the fact that Mr. Val- 
landigham, in the very case in question, under the advice of able 
lawyers, saw not where else to go but to the habeas corpus. But by the 
Constitution the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus itself may be sus- 
pended, when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re- 
quire it. 

You ask, in substance, whether I really claim that I may override aU 
the guaranteed rights of individuals, on the plea of conserving the pubHc 
safety — when I may choose to say the public safety requires it. Tliis 
question, divested of the pliraseology calculated to represent mo as 
struggling for an arbitrary personal prororagtive, is either simply a 
question who shall decide, or an affirmation that nobody shall decide, 
what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or invasion. 
The Constitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for 



364 PKESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMI>-ISTEATION'. 

decision, but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it. By neces- 
sary implication, when rebellion or invasion comes, the decision is to bo 
made from time to time ; and I think the man whom, for the time, tbo 
people have, under the Constitution, made the commander-in-chief of 
their army and navy, is the man who holds the power and bears the 
responsibility of making it. If he uses the power justly, the same 
people will probably justify him; if he abuses it, he is in their hands to 
be dealt with by all the modes they have reserved to themselves in the 
Constitution. 

The earnestness with which you insist that persons can only, in times 
of rebellion, be lawfully dealt with in accordance with the rules for 
criminal trials and prnisliments in times of peace, induces me to add a 
word to what I said on that point in the Albany response. Tou claim 
that men may, if they choose, embarrass those whose duty it is to com- 
bat a giant rebellion, and then be dealt with only in turn as if there 
were no rebeUion. The Constitution itself rejects this view. The mili- 
tary arrests and detentions which have been made, including those of 
Mr. Vallandigham, which are not different in principle from the other, 
have been for prevention, and not iov punishment — as injunctions to stay 
injury, as proceedings to keep the peace — and hence, like proceedings in 
such cases and for like reasons, they have not been accompanied with 
indictments, or trial by juries, nor in a single case by any punisluncnt 
whatever beyond what is purely incidental to the prevention. The 
original sentence of imprisonment in Mr. Vallandigham's case was to 
prevent injury to the mihtary service only, and the modification of it 
was made as a less disagreeable mode to him of securing the same pre- 
vention. 

I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio in the case of Mr. Yallan- 
digham. Quite surely nothing of this sort was or is intended. I was 
wholly unaware that Mr. Vallandigham was, at the time of his arrest, a 
candidate for the Democratic nomination of governor, until so informed 
by your reading to me the resolutions of the convention. I am grateful 
to the State of Ohio for many things, especially for the brave soldiers 
and ofEcers she has given in the present national trial to the armies of 
the Union. 

You claim, as I understand, that according to my own position in the 
Albany response, Mr. Vallandigham should be released ; and this be- 
cause, as you claim, ho has not damaged the mihtary service by discour- 
aging enlistments, encouraging desertions, or otherwise ; and that if he 
had, he should have been turned over to the civil authorities under tho 



THE PRESIDENT ON VALLANDIGUAM's CASEo 365 

recent acts of Congress. I certainly do not know that Mr. Yallandigham 
has specifically and by direct language advised against enlistments and 
in favor of desertions and resistance to drafting. We all know that 
combinations, armed in some instances, to resist the arrest of deserters, 
began several months ago ; that more recently the like has appeared in 
resistance to the enrolment preparatory to a draft ; and that quite a 
number of assassinations have occurred from the same animus. These 
had to be met by military force, and this again has led to bloodshed and 
death. And now, under a sense of responsibility more weighty Siid 
enduring than any which is merely official, I solemnly declare my be- 
lief that this hindrance of the military, including maiming and murder, 
is due to the cause in which Mr. Yallandigham has been engaged, in a 
greater degree than to any other cause ; and it is due to him personally 
in a greater degree than to any other man. 

These things have been notorious, known to all, and of course known 
to Mr. Yallandigham. Perhaps I would not be wrong to say they 
originated with his especial friends and adherents. "With perfect 
knowledge of them he has frequently, if not constantly, made speeches 
in Congress and before popular assemblies; and if it can be shown tliat, 
with these things staring him in the face, he has ever uttered a word of 
rebuke or counsel against them, it will bo a fact greatly in his favor 
with me, and of which, as yet, I am totally ignorant. When it is 
known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to stir up men 
against the prosecution of the war, and that in the midst of resistance 
to it he has not been known in any instance to counsel against such re- 
sistance, it is next to impossible to repel the inference that he has coun- 
selled directly in favor of it. 

With all this before their eyes, the convention you represent have 
nominated Mr. Yallandigham for governor of Ohio, and both they and 
you have declared the purpose to sustain the national Union by all con- 
stitutional means, but, of course, they and you, in common, reserve to 
yourselves to decide what are constitutional means, and, unlike the 
Albany meeting, you omit to state or intimate that, in your opinion, an 
army is a constitutional means of saving the Union against a rebellion, 
or even to intimate that you are conscious of an existing rebellion being 
in progress with the avowed object of destroying that very Union. At 
the same time, your nominee for governor, in whose behalf you appeal, 
is known to you, and to the world, to declare against the use of an army 
to suppress the rebellion. Tour own attitude, therefore, encourages 
desertion, resistance to the draft, and the like, because it teaches those 



366 PEESIDENT LIJ^^COLN S ADimaSTEATION. 

who incline to desert and to escape the draft to believe it is your pur- 
pose to protect them, and to hope that you will become strong enough 
to do so. 

After a short personal intercourse with you, gentlemen of the com- 
mittee, I cannot say I think you desire this effect to follow your atti- 
tude ; but I assure you that both friends and enemies of the Union 
look upon it in this light. It is a substantial hope, and by consequence, 
a real strength to the enemy. If it is a false hope, and one which you 
would willingly dispel, I will make the way exceedingly easy. I send 
you duplicates of this letter, in order that you, or ,a majority, may, if 
you choose, indorse your names upon one of them, and return it thus 
indorsed to me, with the understanding that those signing are thereby 
committed to the following propositions, and to nothing else : 

1. That there is now rebellion in the United States, the object and 
tendency of which is to destroy the national Union ; and that, in your 
opinion, an army and navy are constitutional means for suppressing 
that rebellion. 

2. That no one of you wOI do any thing which, in his own judgment, 
will tend to hinder the increase, or favor the decrease, or lessen the 
efficiency of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress 
that rebellion; and — 

3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all he can to have the 
officers, soldiers, and seamen of the army and navy, whiie engaged in 
the effort to suppress the rebellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well 
provided for and supported. 

And with the further understanding that upon receiving the letter 
and names thus indorsed, I will cause them to be published, which 
publication shall be, within itself, a revocation of the order in relation to 
Mr. Vallandigham. 

It will not escape observation that I consent to the release of Mr. 
Vallandigham upon terms not embracing any pledge from bim or from 
others as to what he will or wUl not do. I do this because he is not 
present to speak for himself, or to authorize others to speak for him ; 
and hence I shaU expect that on returning he would not put himself 
practically in antagonism with the position of his friends. But I do it 
chiefly because I thereby prevail on other influential gentlemen of Ohio 
to so define their position as to be of immense value to the army — thus 
more than compensating for the consequences of any mistake in allow- 
ing Mr. VallandiL'-ham to return, so that, on the whole, the public safety 
will not have suffered by it. Still, in regard to Mr. Vallandigham and 



THE HABEAS COEPUS SUSPENDED. 367 

all others, I must hereafter, as horotofore, do so much as the public 
Bervice may seem to require. 

I have the honor to bo respectfully, yours, &c., 

A. Lincoln. 

The canvass throughout the sumraer was very animated. 
As a matter of course, the opponents of tbe Administration 
in Ohio, as elsewhere throughout the country, made this mat- 
ter of arbitrary arrests a very prominent point of attack- 
Special , stress was laid upon the fact that instead of acting 
directly and upon his own responsibility in those cases, the 
President left them to the discretion of military commanders 
in the several departments. This was held to be in violation 
of the law of Congress which authorized the President to sus- 
pend the writ of habeas corpus^ but not to delegate that high 
prerogative. To meet this objection, therefore, and also in 
order to establish a uniform mode of action on the subject, 
the President issued the following 

PROCLAMATION : 

Whereas, The Constitution of the United States has ordained that 
" The privilege of the writ of habeas cor2ms shall not be suspended, un- 
less, when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re- 
quire it ; and, whereas, a rebellion was existing on the 3d day of March, 
1363, which rebeUion is still existing ; and, whereas, by a statute which 
was approved on that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, that dur- 
ing the present insurrection the President of the United States, when- 
ever, in his judgment, the public safety may require, is authorized to 
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case through- 
out the United States, or any part thereof; and, whereas, in the judg- 
ment of the President the public safety does require that the privilege 
of the said writ shall now be suspended throughout the United States 
in cases where, by the authority of the President of the United States, 
military, naval and civil ofBcers of the United States, or any of them, 
hold persons under their command or in their custody, either as prisoners 
of war, spies, or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or 
seamen enrolled, drafted, or mustered, or enlisted in, or belonging to 
the land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom. 



368 PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 

or otherwise amenable to military law, or to the rules and articles of war, 
or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military or naval services 
by the authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting 
the draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval service ; 
now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may concern, that 
tlie privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended throughout tho 
United States, in the several cases before-mentioned, and that this sus- 
pension will continue throughout the duration of the said rebellion, or 
until this Proclaraation shall, by a subsequent one, to be issued by the 
President of the United States, be modified and revoked. And I do 
hereby require all magistrates, attorneys, and other civil officers witloin 
the United States, and all officers and others in the military and naval 
services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this suspension 
and give it full effect, and all citizens of the United States to conduct 
and govern themselves accordingly, and in conformity with the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and the laws of Congress in such cases 
made and provided. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
seal of the United States to be afiSxed, this fifteenth day of September, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 
and of the mdependence of the United States of America the eighty- 
eighth. 

Abraham Lincoln. 
By the President : 

Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

The act passed by Congress "for enrolling and calling out 
the national forces," commonly called the Conscription Act, 
provided that all able-bodied male citizens, and persons of for- 
eign birth who had declared their intention to become citizens, 
between the ages of twenty and forty-five, were liable to be 
called into service. The strenuous efforts made by the enemies 
of the Administration to arouse the hostility of the people 
against its general policy, had proved so far successful as 
greatly to discourage volunteer enlistments; and the Gov- 
ernment was thus compelled to resort to the extraordinary 
powers conferred upon it by this act. Questions had been 



PROCLAMATION COXCEENIXG ALIENS. 3G9 

raised as to the liabilit}^ of foreigners to be drafted under this 
law ; and in order to settle this point the President, on the 
Sth of May, issued the following 

PROCLAMATION : 

"Washington, May 8, 1863. 
By the President of the Uaited States of America, a Proclamation. 

WJiereas, The Congress of the United States, at its last session, 
enacted a law, entitled " An act for enroliing and calling out the national 
forces, and for other purposes," which was approved on the 3d day 
of March last ; and 

WheTeas, It is recited in the said act that there now exists in tho 
United States an insurrection and rebellion against the authority thereof, 
and it is, under the Constitution of the United States, the duty of the 
Government to suppress insubordination and rebellion, to guarantee to 
each State a republican form of government, and to preserve tho public 
tranquillity; and 

Whereas, For these high purposes, a military force is indispensable, 
to raise and support which all persons ought wilUngly to contribute ; 
and 

Whereas, No service can be more praiseworthy and honorable than 
that which is rendered for the maintenance of the Constitution and the 
Union, and the consequent preservation of free government ; and 

Wliereas, For the reasons thus recited it was enacted by the said stat- 
ute that all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons 
of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intentions to 
become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between 
the ages of twenty and forty-five years, with certain exemptions not 
necessary to be here mentioned, are declared to constitute the national 
forces, and shall be liable to perform military duty in the service of the 
United States, when called out by the President for that purpose ; and 

Whereas, It is claimed, on and in behalf of persons of foreign birth, 
within the ages specified in said act, who have heretofore declared on oath 
their intentions to become citizens under and in pursuance to the laws 
of the United States, and who have not exercised the right of sufl'rage, 
or any other political franchise under the laws of the United States, 
or of any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely precluded by 
their aforesaid declaration of intention from renouncing their purpose 
to become citizens; and that, on the contrary, such persons, under 
treaties and the law of nations, jetain a riglit to renounce that purpose, 
16* 



370 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

and to forego the privilege of citizenship and residence within the 
United States, under the obligations imposed by the aforesaid act of 
Congress: 

Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concerning the liability 
of persons concerned to perform the service required by such enact- 
ment, and to give it full effect, I do hereby order and proclaim that no 
plea of alienage will be received, or allowed to exempt from the obliga- 
tions imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress any person of foreign 
birth who shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen 
of the United Stales, under the laws thereof, and who shall be found 
within the United States at any time during the continuance of the 
present insurrection and rebelhon, at or after the expiration of the period 
of sixty-five days from the date of this proclamation; nor shall any 
such plea of alienage be allowed in favor of any such person who has 
so, as aforesaid, declared his intention to become a citizen of the United 
States, and shall have exercised at any time the right of suffrage, or 
any other political franchise witliin the United States, under the laws 
thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of "Washington this 8th day of May, in the year 

[l. s.] of our Lord 1863, and of the independence of the United 
States the eighty-seventh. 

By the President : Abraham Lincolx. 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

It was subsequently ordered tliat the draft should take place 
in July, and public proclamation was made of the number 
which each State would be required to furnish. Enrolling 
officers had been appointed for the several districts of all the 
States, and, all the names being placed in a wheel, the number 
required were to be publicly drawn, under such regulations as 
were considered necessary to insure equal and exact justice. 
Very great pains had been taken by the opponents of the Ad- 
ministration to excite odium against that clause of the law 
which fixed the price of exemption from service under the 
draft at ^300. It was represented that this clause was for the 
special benefit of the rich, who could easily pay the sum 



TUE DE.VFT. — THE NEW YOEK EIOTS. 371 

requirotl ; while poor men who could not pay it would be 
compelled, at whatever hardships to themselves and their 
families, to enter the array. The draft was commenced in the 
city of New York on Saturday, July 11th, and was conducted 
quietly and successfully during that day. On Sunday plots 
were formed and combinations entered into to resist it ; and 
no sooner was it resumed on Monday morning, July 13, than a 
sudden and formidable attack was made by an armed mob 
upon the office in one of the districts ; the wheel was destroyed, 
the lists scattered, and the building set on fire. The excite- 
ment spread through the city. Crowds gathered everywhere, 
with no apparent common object ; but during the day the 
movement seemed to be controlled by leaders in two general 
directions. The first was an attack upon the negroes ; the 
second an assault upon every one who was supposed to be in 
any way concerned in the draft, or prominently identified, 
officially or otherwise, with the Administration or the Republi- 
can party. Unfortunately, the militia regiments of the city had 
been sent to Pennsylvania to withstand the rebel invasion ; and 
the only guardians left for the public peace were the regular 
police and a few hundred soldiers who garrisoned the forts. 
Both behaved with the greatest vigor and fidelity, but they 
were too few to protect the dozen miles between the extremi- 
ties of the city. The mob, dispersed in one quarter, would 
reassemble at another, and for four days the city seemed given 
up to their control. The outrages committed during this 
time were numerous and aggravated. Negroes were assaulted, 
beaten to death, mutilated, and hung; building after building 
was sacked and burned ; gangs of desperadoes patrolled the 
streets, levying contributions, and ordering places of business 
to be closed. A Colored Orphan Asylum, sheltering some 
hundreds of children, was sacked and burned. After the first 
day the riot, which was at first directed against the draft, took 
a new turn. The entire mass of scoundrelism in the city 



372 PRESIDENT I,INCOLN's ADMINISTKATION. 

seemed to have been let loose for indiscriminate plunder. 
"Women, half-grown boys, and children, were foremost in the 
•work of robbery, and no man felt safe from attack. The 
police force did their duty manfully, aided at first by the few 
troops at the disposal of the authorities, and subsequently by 
the regiments who began to return from Pennsylvania. In 
the street fights which occurred many of the defenders of law 
and order lost their lives, while a far larger number of the 
rioters were killed. The bands of rioters were finally dispersed, 
and the peace of the city was restored. 

During these occurrences the draft was necessarily suspend- 
ed ; and on the 3d of August, Governor Seymour addressed a 
long letter to the President, asking that further proceedings 
under the draft might be postponed until it should be seen 
whether the number required from the State of New York 
could not be raised by volunteering, and also until the con- 
stitutionality of the law could be tested in the judicial tribunals 
of the country. The Governor pointed out an alleged in- 
justice in the application of the law, by which, in four districts 
of the State of New York a far higher quota in proportion to 
the population was required than in the other districts of the 
State ; and this was urged as an additional reason for post- 
poning the further execution of the law. 

To this appeal the President, on the 7th of August, made 
the following reph^ : 

EsECDTrvE Mansion, Washington, August 7, lS6o. 
His Excellency, Horatio SEmouK, 

Governor of New York, Albany, N. T. : 

Tour communication of the 3d inst., has been receiTcd and attentively 
considered. I cannot consent to suspend the draft in New York, as you 
request, because, among other reasons, time is too important. By the 
figures you send, which I presume are correct, the twelve districts repre- 
sented fall in two classes of eight and four respectively. 

The disparity of the quotas for the draft in these two classes is certainly 
very striking, being the difference between an average of 2,200 in one 
class, and 4,8(M: in the other. Assuming that the districts are equal, one 



LETTEIl TO GOVEKNOR SEYMOUR. 373 

to anotlijr, iu entire population, as required by the plan on wliich they 
were made, tliis disparity is such as to require attention. Much of it, 
however, I suppose will be accounted for by the fact that so many more 
persons fit for soldiers are in the city than are in the country, who have 
too recently arrived from other parts of the United States and from Europe 
to be either included in the census of 1860, or to have voted in 180:J. 
Still, making due allowance for this, I am yet unwilling to stand upon it 
us an entirely sufRcient explanation of the great disparity. I shall direct 
the draft to proceed in all the districts, drawing, however, at first from 
each of the four districts— to wit, the Second, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth 
— only, 2,300, being the average quota of the other class. After this 
drawing, these four districts, and also the Seventeenth and Twenty-nintli, 
shall be carefully re-enrolled ; and, if you please, agents of yours may 
witness every step of the process. Any deficiency which may appear by 
the new enrolment will be supplied by a special draft for that object, 
allowing due credit for volunteers who may be obtained from these dis- 
tricts respectively during the interval ; and at all points, so far as consist- 
ent with practical convenience, due credits shall be given for volunteers, 
and your Excellency shall be notified of the time fljced for commencing 
a draft in each district. 

I do not object to abide a decision of the United States Supreme Court, 
or. of the Judges thereof, on the constitutionality of the draft law. In 
fact, I should be willing to facilitate the obtaining of it. But I cannot 
consent to lose the time while it is being obtained. We are contending 
with an enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied man he 
can reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a 
Blaughter-pen. No time is wasted, no argument is used. This produces 
an army which will soon turn upon our now victorious soldiers already 
iu the field, if they shall not be sustained by recruits as they should be. 
It produces an army with a rapidity not to be matched on our side, if 
we first waste time to re-experiment with the volunteer system, alreauy 
deemed by Congress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted as to be in- 
adequate ; and then more time to obtain a Court decision as to whether 
a law is constitutional which requires a part of those not now in the service 
to go to the aid of those who are already in it ; and still more time to 
determine with absolute certainty that we ge^ those who are to go iu the 
precisely legal proportion to those who are not to go. My purpose is to 
be in my action just and constitutional, and yet practical, in performing 
the important duty with which I am charged, of maintaining the unity and 
the free principles of our common country. Tour obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln. 

On the Stli Governor Seymour replied, reasserting the untair- 



374 rEESlDENT LINCOLN S ADillXISTBATIOIf. 

iiess and injustice of the enrolments, and expressing bis regret at 
the President's refusal to postpone the draft. He also sent a 
voluminous statement prepared, by Judge- Advocate Water- 
bury, designed to sustain the position he had previously as- 
sumed. To this the President thus replied : — 

Executive Mansion, ) 

vVashington, August 11, 1863. ) 
His Excellency Horatio Seymoub, 
Governor of New York : 

Yours of the 8th, with Judge- Advocate General Waterbury's report, 
was received to-day. 

Asking you to remember that I consider time as being very import- 
ant, both to the general cause of the country and to the soldiers in the 
field, I beg to remind you that I waited, at your request, from the 1st 
until the Gth inst. to receive your communication dated the 3d. In view 
of its great length, and the known time and apparent care taken in its 
preparation, I did not doubt that it contained your fuU case as you 
desired to present it. It contained the figures for twelve districts, 
omitting the other nineteen, as I supposed, because you found nothing 
to complain of as to them. I answered accordingly. In doing bo I 
laid down the principle to which I purpose adhering, which is to pro- 
ceed with the draft, at the same time employing infalUble means to 
avoid any great wrong. With the communication received to-day you 
send figures for twenty-eight districts, including the twelve sent before, 
and stUl omitting three, for which I suppose the enrolments are not 
yet received. In looking over the fuller list of twenty-eight districts, I 
find that the quotas for sixteen of them are above 2,000 and below 
2,100, while of the rest, six are above 2,700 and six are below 2,000. 
Applying the principle to these new facts, the Fifth and Seventh Dis- 
tricts must be added to the four in which the quotas have already been 
reduced to 2,200 for the first draft; and with these four others must 
be added to those to be re-enrolled. The correct case will then stand : 
the quotas of the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth 
Districts fixed at 2,200 for the first draft. The Provost-Marshal Gene- 
ral informs me that the drawing is already completed in the Sixteenth, 
Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Fourth, Twenty- 
Sixth, Twenty-Seventh, Twenty-Eighth, Tweuty-Xinth, and Thirtieth 
Districts. In the others, except the three outstanding, the drawing 
will be made upon the quotas as now fixed. After the first draft, the 



THE DRAFT RESUMED AND COMPLETED, 375 

Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, 
Twenty-First, Twenty-Fifth, Twenty-Nuith, and Thirty-First will be 
enrolled for the purpose, and in the manner stated in my letter of the 
7th mst. The same principle will bo applied to the now outstanding 
districts when they shall come in. No part of my former, letter is 
repudiated by reason of not being restated in this, or for any other cause. 
Your obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln. 

The draft in New York was resumed oa the 19th of August, 
and as ample preparations had been made for the preservation 
of the public peace, it encountered no further opposition. In 
every other part of the country the proceedings were con- 
ducted and completed without resistance. 

Some difficulty was experienced in Chicago, and the Mayor 
and Comptroller of that city addressed the President on the 
subject of alleged frauds in the enrolment, and received the 
following dispatch in reply : 

Washington, August 27, 1863. 
F. C. Sherman, Mayor ; J. S. Hays, Comptroller : 

Yours of the 24th, in relation to the draft, is received. It seems to 
me the government here will be overwhelmed if it undertakes to conduct 
these matters with the authorities of cities and counties. They must be 
conducted with the Grovernors of States, who will, of course, represent 
their cities and counties. Meanwhile, you need not be uneasy until you 
again hear from here. A. Lincoln. 

Subsequently, in reply to further representations on the 
subject, the same gentlemen received the following : 

■\VAsra;NGT0N, AugiLst 7, 1863. 

Yours of August 29th just received. I suppose it was intended by 
Congress that this Court should execute the act in question without de- 
pendence upon any other Government, State, City, or County. It is, 
however, within the range of practical convenience to confer with the 
Governments of States, while it is quite beyond that range to have 
correspondence on the subject with counties and cities. They are too 
numerous. As instances, I have corresponded with Gov. Seymour, but 
not with Mayor Opdj'ke; -with Gov. Curtin, but not with Mayor Henry. 

A. Lincoln. 



3*76 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administbation. 



CUAPTEE IX. 

MILITARY EVENTS OF 1863 TEIE REBEL DEFEAT AT GETTYS- 
BURG FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON. 

The military events of 1863, thougli of very great impor- 
tance, are much less closely connected with the direct action 
of the President than those vv'hich occurred in 1862 ; we 
shall not attempt, therefore, to narrate them as much in detail. 
When General Burnside succeeded General McClellan iu com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac, on the Vth of November, 
1862, that army was at Warrenton, the rebel forces falling 
back before it towards Richmond. Deeming it impossible to 
force the enemy to a decisive battle, and unsafe to follow him 
to Richmond on a line which must make it very difficult to 
keep up his communications, General Burnside, on the loth, 
turned his army towards Fredericksburg — marching on the 
north bank of the Rappahannock, intending to cross the 
river, take possession of Fredericksburg, and march upou 
Richmond from that point. The advance division, under 
General Sumner, arrived opposite Frederi.^ksburg on the 
19th; but a pontoon train, which had been ordered and was 
expected to be there at the same time, had not come — so that 
crossing at the moment was impossible. The delay that thus 
became unavoidable, enabled General Lee to bring up a strong 
force from the rebel army, and possess himself of the heights 
of Fredericksburg. On the night of the 10th of December, 
General Burnside threw a bridge of pontoons across the river, 
and the next day constructed four bridges, under cover of a 
terrific bombardment of the town. On the 11th and 12th 
his array was crossed over, and on the 13th attacked the ene- 



THE BATTLES AT FEEDERICKSBUEG. ST'Z 

my — General Sumner commanding in front, and General 
Franklin having command of a powerful flanking movement 
against the rebel right. The rebels, however, were too strongly 
posted to- be dislodged. Our forces suffered severely, and 
were unable to advance. On the night of the 15th, they were 
therefore withdrawn to the opposite bank of the river. Our 
losses in this engagement were 1,138 killed, 9,105 wounded, 
2,078 missing; total, 12,321. 

The army remained quiet until the 20th of January, when 
General Burnside again issued orders for an advance, intend- 
ing to cross the river some six or eight miles above Fredericks- 
burg, and make a flank attack upon the left wing of the rebel 
army. The whole army was moved to the place of crossing 
early in the morning, but a heavy storm on the preceding 
night had so damaged the roads as to make it impossible to 
bring up artillery and pontoons with the promptness essential 
to success. On the 24th, General Burnside was relieved from 
command of the Army of the Potomac, and General Hooker 
appointed in his place. Three months were passed in inaction, 
the season forbidding any movement; but on the 27th of 
April, General Hooker pushed three divisions of his army to 
Kelley's Ford, twenty-five miles above Fredericksburg, and 
by the 30th had crossed the river, and turning south had 
reached Chancellorsville — five or six miles southwest of that 
town. A strong cavalry force, under General Stoneraan, had 
been sent to cut the railroad in the rear of the rebel armv, so 
as to prevent their receiving re-enforcements from Richmond, — 
General Hooker's design being to attack the enemy in flank 
and rear. The other divisions of his army had crossed and 
joined his main force at Chancellorsville, General Sedgwick, 
with one division only, being left opposite Fredericksburg. 
On the 2d of May, the left wing of the rebel arm}-, under 
General Jackson, attacked our right, and gained a decided 
advantage of position, which was recovered, however, before 



378 PEESiDEKT Lincoln's administration. 

the day closed. The action was renewed next day, and the 
advantage remained with the enemy. General Sedgwick, 
meantime, had crossed the river and occupied the heights of 
Fredericksburg, but was driven from them and compelled to 
retreat on the night of the 4th. On the morning of the 5th 
a heavy rainstorm set in, and in the night of that day Gen- 
eral Hooker withdrew his army to the north bank of the 
liappahannock, having lost not far from 18,000 in the move- 
ment. 

Both armies remained inactive until the 9th of June, when 
it was discovered that the rebel forces under Lee were leaving 
their position near Fredericksburg and moving northwest, 
through the valley of the Shenandoah. On the 13th the rebel 
General Ewell, with a heavy force, attacked our advance post 
of seven thousand men at Winchester under General Milroy, 
and not only compelled him to retreat but pursued him so 
closely as to convert his retreat into a rout : and on the 14th 
of June the rebel army began to cross the Potomac and ad- 
vanced upon Hagerstown, Maryland, with the evident purpose 
of invading Pennsylvania. The movement created the most 
intense excitement throughout the country. President Lin- 
coln issued a proclamation calling for 100,000 militia from 
the States most directly menaced, to serve for six months, and 
New York was summoned to send 20,000 also. On the 2Yth 
the main body of the rebel army crossed the Potomac at 
Williamsport, and General Lee took up his head-quarters at 
Hagerstown. 

Meantime, as soon as the raovoraent of the rebel forces 
from Fredericksburg was discovered, our army had broken 
up its encampment and marched northward, on a line nearly 
parallel with that of the enemy, and on the 27th, the same 
day that the rebels reached Hagerstown, the head-quarters 
of our army were at Frederick City — our whole force being 
thus interposed between the rebels and both Baltimore and 



BEBEL RAID INTO PEXXSTLVAXIA. 379 

WasLington, and prepared to follow ttom into Pennsylvani:i. 
On that day General Hooker was relieved from command of 
the army, which was conferred upon General Meade, who at 
once ordered an advance into Pennsylvania in the general 
direction of Harrisburg — towards which the enemy was rapidly 
advancing in force. On the 1st of July our advanced corps, 
the First and Eleventh, under Generals Reynolds and Howard, 
came in contact with the enemy, strongly posted near the 
town of Gettysburg, and attacking at once, fought an in- 
decisive battle ; the enemy being so far superior in numbers as 
to compel General Howard, who was in command at the time, 
to fall back to Cemetery Hill and wait for re-enforcements. 
During the night all the corps of our army were concentrated 
and the next day posted around that point. The Eleventh 
Corps retained its position on the Cemetery ridge : the First 
Corps was on the right of the Eleventh, on a knoll, connect- 
ing with the ridge extending to the south and east, on which 
the Second Corps was placed. The right of the Twelfth 
Corps rested on a small stream. The Second and Third 
Corps were posted on the left of the Eleventh, on the pro- 
longation of Cemetery ridge. The Fifth was held in reserve 
until the arrival of the Sixth, at 2 p. m. on the 2d, after a 
march of thirty-two miles in seventeen hours, when the Fifth 
was ordered to the extreme left and the Sixth placed in 
reserve. 

At about 3 o'clock the battle was opened by a tremendous 
onset of the enemy, whose troops were massed along a ridge a 
mile or so in our front, upon the Third Corps, which formed 
our extreme left and which met the shock with heroic tirm- 
ness, until it was supported by the Third and Fifth. General 
Sickles, who commanded the Third Corps, was severely 
wounded early in the action, and General Birney, who suc- 
ceeded to the command, though urged to fall back, was 
enabled, by the help of the First and Sixth Corps, to hold his 



3 so PEESIDEIST LIXCOLN S ADiUXISTEATIOX. 

ground, and at about sunset the enemy retired in confusion. 
Another assault was made on our left during the evening, 
Avhich was also repulsed. On the morning of the 3d a spirited 
assault was made upon the right of our line, but without suc- 
cess ; and at 1 p. m. the enemy opened an artillery fire upon 
our centre and left from one hundred and twenty-five guns, 
which continued for over two hours, without reply from our 
side, when it was followed by a heavy assault of infantry, 
directed mainly against the Second Corps, and repelled with 
firmness and success by that Corps, supported by Doubleday's 
]3ivision and Stannard's Brigade of the First Corps. This 
terminated the battle. On the morning of the 4th a recon- 
noissance showed that the enemy had withdrawn his left flank, 
maintaining his position in front of our left, with the apparent 
purpose of forming a new line of attack ; but the next morn- 
ing it was ascertained that he was in full retreat. The Sixth 
Corps, with all disposable cavalry, were at once sent in pur- 
suit ; but ascertaining that the enemy had availed himself of 
very strong passes which could be held by a small force, 
General Meade determined to pursue by a flank movement, 
and after burying the dead and succoring the wounded, the 
whole array was put in motion for the Potomac. On the 
12th it arrived in front of the enemy strongly posted on the 
heights, in advance of AVilliamsport. The next day was 
devoted to an examination of the position ; but on advancing 
for an attack on the 14th, it was discovered that the enemy had 
succeeded in crossing by the bridge at Falling Waters and the 
ford at Williamsport. The pursuit was continued still further, 
but the enemy, though greatly harassed and subjected to severe 
losses, succeeding in gaining the line of the Rapidan, and our 
forces again occupied their old position on the Rappahannock. 
On the morning of the 4th of July, the day celebrated 
throughout the country as the anniversary of the Declaration 
of Independence, the President issued the following : — 



RESULTS AT GETTYSBURG, 381 

Washington, July 4, 10.30 A. M. 
The President announces to the country that news from the Army of 
the Potomac, up to 10 p. m. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with 
the highest honor ; to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, 
and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen ; and that 
for this he especially desires that on this day. He, whose will, not ours, 
should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with 
profoundest gratitude. A. Lincoln. 

The result of this battle — one of the severest and most 
sanguinary of the war — was of the utmost importance. It 
drove the rebels back from their intended invasion of Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland, and compelled them to evacuate the 
upper part of the Valley of the Shenandoah, leaving in our 
hands nearly 14,000 prisoners, and 25,000 small arms collect-cd 
on the battle-field. Our own losses were very severe, amount- 
ing to 2,834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6,643 missing— in all, 
23,186. 

During the ensuing season, a piece of ground, seventeen 
and a half acres in extent, adjoining the town cemetery, and 
forming an important part of the battle-field, was purchased by 
the State of Pennsylvania to be used as a national burying- 
ground for the loyal soldiers who fell in that great engage- 
ment. It was dedicated, with solemn and impressive cere- 
monies, on the 19th of November, 1863, the President and 
members of his Cabinet being in attendance, and a very large 
and imposing military display adding grace and dignity to 
the occasion. Hon. Edward Everett delivered the formal 
address, and President Lincoln made the followiaar remarks : 



Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this 
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the pro- 
position that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great 
civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. 
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for 



382 PEESIDEXT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

those who hero gave their lives that that nation might live. It is iiltogetli r 
fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we can- 
not dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far 
above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long 
remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 
It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is 
rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before 
us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause 
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ; that we here highly 
resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation un- 
der God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 

The other great military achievement of the year, was the 
capture of Port Hudson and Vicksburg, and the opening of 
the Mississippi river throughout its entire length to the com- 
merce of the United States, General N. P. Banks, who suc- 
ceeded General Butler in command of the military department 
of Louisiana, reached Xew-Orleans, sustained by a formidable 
expedition from New-York, and assumed command on the 
loth of December, 1862, and at once took possession of Baton 
Rouge. On the 21st, an expedition under General W. T. 
Sherman started from Memphis, passed down the Mississippi 
to the mouth of the Yazoo, some ten miles above Vicksburg, 
and on the 26th ascended that river, landed and commenced 
an attack upon the town from the rear. Severe fight- 
ing continued for three days, during which time our army 
pushed within two miles of the city ; but on the 30th they 
were repulsed with heavy loss. On the 2d of January, Gene- 
ral McClernand arrived and took command, and the attack upon 
Vicksburg was for the time abandoned as hopeless. Several 
forts on the Arkansas and White Rivers were taken, and an 
effort was subsequently made to cut a channel across the neck 
of land on the extremity of which Vicksburg is situuled, so as 



VICKSBUEG AND PORT HUDSON CAPTUEED. 383 

to divert the channel of the Mississippi, and make Vicksburi; 
substantially an inland town. Various attempts npon the place 
were made during the succeeding month, but without success. 
On the 30th of April, General Grant landed his forces at Bruins- 
burg, sixty-five miles below Vicksburg, and immediately ad- 
vanced upon Port Gibson, where he was opposed by the rebel 
General Bowen, who was defeated, with a loss in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners, of 1,500 men. At Grand Gulf, ten miles abovo 
Bruinsburg, the enemy had begun to erect strong fortifications. 
These had been fired upon by our gunboats a few days be- 
fore, under cover of which the fleet had run past. Grant hav- 
ing now gained the rear of this strong post, Admiral Porter, 
two days after the fight at Port Gibson, returned to Grand 
Gulf and found it abandoned. Grant's Army then marched 
upward toward Vicksburg, and on the 12tli of May encounter- 
ed the enemy again at Raymond, not far from Jackson, the 
capital of the State of Mississippi, and again defeated them with 
a loss of 800. Two days after. May 14, they were opposed 
by a corps of the enemy under General Joseph E. Johnston, 
formerlv the Commander-in-chief of the Confederate army, 
who had been assigned to the command of the Department 
of the Mississippi. Johnston was defeated, and the city of 
Jackson fell into our hands, with seventeen pieces of artillery 
and large stores of supplies. Grant then turned to the west, 
directly upon the rear of Vicksburg, General Peraberton, the 
commander at that point, advanced with the hope of checking 
him, but was defeated, on the 16th, at Baker's Creek, losing 
4,000 men and twenty-nine pieces of artillery. On the next 
day the same force was encountered and defeated at Big Black 
River Bridge, ten miles from Vicksburg, with a loss of 2,600 
men, and seventeen pieces of artillery. On the 1 8th, Vicksburg 
was closely invested, and the enemy were shut up within their 
works, which were found to be very strong. An attempt to carry 
them by storm was unsucces.-ful, ;uid reij;ul;<r siege was at once 



384 PEESIDEXT LIXCOLNS ADMI^^STRATIOX. 

laiil to the city by the land forces, the gunboats in the river co- 
operating. Our approaches were pushed forward with vigorous 
perseverance ; our works, in spite of the most strenuous op- 
position of the garrison under General Pemberton, drawing 
nearer every day, and the gunboats in the river keeping up an 
almost constant bombardment. The enemy, it was known, 
were greatly straitened by want of supplies and ammunition, 
and their only hope of relief was that General Johnston would 
be able to collect an army sufficient to raise the siege by at- 
tacking Grant in his rear. This had been so strongly defended 
that a force of 50,000 men Avould have been required to make 
the attempt with any hope of success, and Johnston was not 
able to concentrate half of that number. On the morning of 
the 4th of July, therefore, General Pemberton proposed to 
surrender Vicksburg, on condition that his troops should be 
permitted to march out. Grant refused, demanding an abso- 
lute surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war. Upon con- 
sultation with his olilcers, Pemberton acceded to these term^. 
By this surrender about 31,000 prisoners, 220 cannon, and 
70,000 stand of small arms fell into our hands. The pris- 
oners were at once released on parole. The entire loss of the 
enemy during the campaign which was thus closed by the 
surrender of Vicksburg, was nearly 40,000; ours was not far 
from 7,000. 

The capture of Vicksburg was immediately followed by 
that of Port Hudson, which was surrendered on the 8th of 
July to General Banks, together with about 7,000 prisoners, 
fifty cannon, and a considerable number of small arms. Tiie 
whole course of the Mississippi, from its source to its mouth, 
was thus opened, and tlie Confederacy virtually separated into 
two parts, neither capable of rendering any effective assistance 
to the other. 

The great victories, by which the Fourth of July had been 
so signally, and so gloriously commemorated, calle<l forth the 



PUBLIC REJOICINGS. — THE PRESIDENT S SPEECH. 385 

most enthusiastic rejoicings in every section of the country. 
Public meetings were held in nearly all the cities and principal 
towns, at which eloquent speeches and earnest resolutions ex- 
pressed the joy of the people, and testified their unflinching 
purpose to prosecute the war until the rebellion should be extin- 
guished. A large concourse of the citizens of Washington 
preceded by a band of music, visited the residence of the 
President, and the members of his cabinet — giving them, in 
succession, the honors of a serenade — which the President 
acknowledged, in the following remarks : 

Fellow-Citizens : I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and 
yet I will not Bay I thank you, for this call ; but I do most sincerely 
thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How 
long ago is it, — eighty odd years since on the Fourth of July, for the 
first time, in the history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, 
assembled and declared as a self-evident truth, "that all men are cre- 
ated equal." That was the birthday of the United States of America. 
Since then the Fourth of July has had several very peculiar recognitions. 
The two men most distinguished in the framing and support of the Decla- 
ration were Thomas Jefferson and Jonx Adams — the one having pen- 
ned it, and the other sustained it the most forcibly in debate — the only two 
of the fifty-five who signed it, and were elected Presidents of the United 
States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it 
pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was 
indeed an extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. Another 
President, five years after, was called from this stage of existence on 
the same day and month of the year ; and now on this last Fourth of 
July, just passed, when we have a gigantic rebelhon, at the bottom of 
which is an effort to overthrow the principle that all men were created 
equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on 
that very day. And not only so, but in a succession of battles in Penn- 
sylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they 
might be called one great battle, on the first, second, and third of the 
month of July ; and on the fourth the cohorts of those who opposed 
the Declaration that aU men are created equal, " turned tail" and run. 
[Long continued cheers.] Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the 
occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the 
3-7 



386 PRESIOENT LINCOLN'S ADMIXISTEATION. 

occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave 
officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and 
hberties of tlieir country from the beginning of the war. These are 
trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I 
dislike to mention the name of one single officer, lest I might do wrong 
to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and 
particularly prominent ones ; but these I will not mention. Having 
said this much, I will now take the music. 

The President, a few days afterwards, wrote to Geueral 
Grant the following letter : 

Executive Maxsion, "Washinqton, July 13, 18G3. 
Major-General Grant: 

My Dear General : — I do not remember that you and I ever met 
personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the al- 
most inestimable service you have done the country. I write to say a 
word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I 
thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across 
the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; and 
I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than 
I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could succeed. When 
you got below, and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I 
thought you sliould go down the river, and join General Banks, and 
when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a 
mistake. I now wish to make the personal acknowledgment, that you 
were right and I was wrong. Yours, truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

These victories, together with others, both numerous and 
important, which were achieved in other sections of the coun- 
try, gave such strong grounds of encouragement and hope 
for the speedy overthrow of the rebellion, that, on the 15th 
of July, the President issued the following proclamation for a 
day of National Thanksgiving : 

By the President of the Urdted States of America. 
A PROCLAMATION. 

It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and 
prayers of an afflicted people, and to vouchsafe to the Army and tho Navy 
of tho United States, on the land and on the sea, victories so signal and 



THANKSGIVI]S"G FOR VICTOEIES. 387 

SO effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidenco 
that the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitution 
preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently secured ; but 
these victories have been accorded, not vrithout sacrifice of hfe, limb, 
and liberty, incurred by brave, patriotic, and loyal citizens. Domestic 
affliction, in every part of the country, follows in the train of these 
fearful bereavements. It is meet and riglit to recognize and confess the 
presence of the Almighty Father, and the power of. His hand equally 
in these triumphs and these sorrows. 

Now, therefore, be it known, that I do set apart Thursday, the sixth 
day of August next, to be observed as a day for National Thanksgiving, 
praise, and prayer ; and I invite the people of the United States to as- 
semble on that occasion in their customary places of worship, and in the 
form approved by their own conscience, render tlie homage due to the 
Divine Majesty, for the wonderful things He has done in the Nation's 
behalf, and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit, to subdue the 
anger which has produced, and so long sustained a needless and cruel 
rebellion ; to change the hearts of tiie insurgents ; to guide the coun- 
sels of the Government with wisdom adequate to so great a National 
emergency, and to visit with teudor care, and consolation, throughout 
the length and breadth of our land, all those who, through the vicissi- 
tudes of marches, voyages, battles, and sieges, have been brought to 
suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally, to lead the whole nation 
through paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will, back to 
the perfect enjoyment of union and fraternal peace. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this 15th day of July, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of 

[l. s.] the independence of the United States of America the eighty- 
eighth. Abraham Lincoln. 

By the President : 

Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

Tn other portions of the field of war, our arms, during the 
year 1863, had achieved other victories of marked importance 
which deserve mention, thongli their relation to the special 
object of this work is not such as to' require them to be de- 
scribed in detail. 



3S8 TKESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMIXISTKATION. 

After the retreat of the rebel General Lee to the south side 
of the Rapidan, a considerable portion of his army was 
detached and sent to re-enforce Bragg, threatened by Rose- 
crans, at Chattanooga ; but, with his numbers thus diminished, 
Lee assumed a threatening attitude against Meade, and turn- 
ing his left flank forced hira to fall back to the line of Bull 
Run. Several sharp skirmishes occurred during these opera- 
tions, in which both sides sustained considerable losses, but 
no substantial advantage was gained by the rebels, and by the 
1st of November they had resumed their original position on 
the south side of the Rapidan. 

After the battle of Murfreesboro, and the occupation of 
that place by our troops, on the 5th of January, 1863, the 
enemy took position at Shelbyville and Tullahoma, and the 
winter and spring were passed in raids and unimportant 
skirmishes. In June, while General Grant was besieging 
Vicksburg, information reached the government which led 
to the belief that a portion of Bragg's army had been sent to 
the relief of that place ; and General Rosecrans was urged to 
take advantage of this division of the rebel forces and diive 
them back into Georgia, so as completely to deliver East Ten- 
nessee from the rebel armies. He was told that General Burn- 
side would move from Kentucky in aid of this movement. 
General Rosecrans, however, deemed his forces unequal to 
such an enterprise ; but, receiving re-enforcements, he com- 
menced on the 25th of June a forward movement upon the 
enemy, strongly intrenched at Tullahoma, with his main force 
near Shelbyville. Deceiving the rebel General by a move- 
ment upon his left flank, Jlosecrans threw the main body of 
his army upon the enemy's right, which he turned so com- 
pletely that Bragg abandoned his position, and foil back 
rapidly, and in confusion, to Bridgeport, Alabama, being pur- 
sued as far Jis practicable by our forces. General Burnside 
had been ordered to connect himself with Rosecrans, but had 



BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA. 389 

failed to do so. Bragg continued his retreat across the Cum- 
berland Mountain and the Tennessee River, and took post at 
Chattanooga, whither he was pursued by Rosecrans, who 
reached the Tennessee on the 20th of August, and on the 
21st commenced shelling Chattanooga and making prepara- 
tion for throwing his army across the river. A reconnoisance, 
made by General Crittenden on the 9th of September, dis- 
closed the fact, that the rebels had abandoned the position, 
which was immediately occupied by our forces, who pushed 
forward towards the South. Indications that the rebel Gen- 
eral was receiving heavy re-enforcements and manoeuvring to 
turn the right of our army, led to a concentration of all our 
available forces, and, subsequently, to the appointment of 
General Grant to command the whole army thus brought to- 
gether. On the 19th of September, General Rosecrans was 
attacked by the rebel forces — their main force being directed 
against his left wing under General Thomas, endeavoring to 
turn it so as to gain the road to Chattanooga. The attack 
was renewed the next morning, and with temporary success — 
Longstreet's Corps having reached the field and poured its 
massive columns through a gap left in the centre of our line 
by an unfortunate misapprehension of an order; but the 
opportune arrival and swift energy of General Granger checked 
his advance, and the desperate valor of Thomas and his troops 
repulsed every subsequent attempt of the enemy to carry the 
position. Our losses, in this series of engagements, were 1,644 
killed, 9,262 wounded, and 4,845 missing — a total swelled by 
the estimated losses of our cavalry to about 16,351. The 
rebel General immediately sent Longstreet against Burnside, 
who was at Knoxville, while he established his main force 
again in the neighborhood of Chattanooga. On the 23d of 
November, General Grant moved his army to attack him, and 
on the 25th the whole of the range of heights known as Mis- 
sionary Ridge, held by Bragg, was carried by our troops after 



890 rPvESIDENT LI2fC0LN's ADjIIXISTRATIOX. 

a desperate stniggle, and the enemy corapletely routed. This 
was a very severe engagement, and our loss was estimated at 
about 4,000. Generals Thomas and Hooker pushed the rebel 
forces back into Georgia, and Granger and Slierman were sent 
into East Tennessee to relieve Burnside and raise the siege of 
Knoxville, which was pressed by Longstreet, who, failing in 
this attempt, soon after retreated towards Virginia. 

Upon receiving intelligence of these movements the Presi- 
dent issued the following recommendation : 

Executive Mansion, "Washington, D. C, December 7, 1863. 
Reliable iuformation being received tliat the insurgent force is retreat 
ingfrom East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it probable that 
the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from that important 
position ; and esteeming this to be of high national consequence, I re- 
commend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this information, assemble 
at their places of worsliip, and render special homage and gratitude to 
Almighty God for this great advancement of the National cause. 

A. Lincoln. 

On the 3d of October, the President had issued the follow- 
ing proclamation, recommending the observance of the last 
Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving : 

PROCLAMATION 

By the President of the United States of America. 
The year that is drawing towards its close lias been filled with the 
blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which 
are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from 
■which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary 
a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart 
which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Al- 
mighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and 
severitj', which has sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggres- 
sions of foreign States, peace has been preserved with aU nations, order 
lias been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and 
harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military 
conflict, while that tlieatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing 
armies and navies of the Union. The needful diversion of wealth and 



TUANKSGIVIIsrG PKOCLAilATIOX. 391 

strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, 
have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship. The a^e 
has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well 
of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more 
abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, not- 
withstanding the waste that has been ipade in the camp, the siege, and 
the battle-field ; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of 
augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a continuance 
of years, with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked 
cut these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High 
God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless 
remembered mercy. 

• It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, 
reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, 
by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens 
in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and 
those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe 
the last Thursday of Xovember next as a day of thanksgiving and 
prayer to our beneficent Father, who dwelleth in the heavens. And I 
recommend to them that, while oflTering up the ascriptions justly due 
to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with 
humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, com- 
mend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, 
mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are 
unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the 
Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as 
soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoy- 
ment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the 
[l. s.] year of our Lord 1863, and of the independence of the 
United States the eighty-eiglith. 

Abraham Ldjcoln.' 

By the President: 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



892 PEESiDENT Lincoln's administration. 



CHAPTER X. 

POLITICAL MOVEMEXTS IN MISSOURI. THE STATE ELECTIONS 

OF 1863. 

The condition of affairs in Missouri lias been somewhat 
peculiar, from the very outbreak of the rebellion. At the out- 
set the Executive Department of the State government was in 
the hands of men in full sympathy with the secession cause, 
who, under pretence of protecting the State from domes- 
tic violence, were organizing its forces for active co-operation 
with the rebel movement. On the 30th of July, 1861, the 
State Convention, originally called by Governor Jackson, for 
the purpose of taking Missouri out of the Union, but to 
which the people had elected a large majority of Union men, 
declared all the Executive offices of the State vacant, by rea- 
son of the treasonable conduct of the incumbents, and ap- 
pointed a Provisional Government, of which the Hon. H. R. 
Gamble was at the bead. He at once took measures to main- 
tain the !N'ational authority within the State. He ordered the 
troops belonging to the rebel confederacy to withdraw from it, 
and called upon all the citizens of the State to organize for its 
defence, and for the preservation of peace within its borders. 
He also issued a proclamation, framed in accordance with the 
following suggestions from Washington : 

Wasuixgton, August 3, 1861. 
To His Excellency Gov. Gamble, Governor of Missouri: 

In reply to your Message, addressed to the President, I am directed 

to say, that if, by a Proclamation, you promise security to citizens in 

arms, who voluntarily return to their allegiance, and behave as peaceable 

and loyal men, this Government will cause the promise to be respected. 

Simon Cameuon, Secretary of War. 



GEN. FREMONT IN MISSOURI. 393 

Two days after this, Governor Jackson, returning from 
Richmond, declared the State to be no longer one of the 
United States ; and on the 2d of November, the Legislature, 
summoned by him as Governor, ratified a compact, by which 
certain commissioners, on both sides, had agreed that Mis- 
souri should join the rebel confederacy. The State authority 
was thus divided — two persons claiming to wield the Executive 
authority, and two bodies, also, claiming to represent the popu- 
lar will, — one adhering to the Union, and the other to the Con- 
federacy in organized rebellion against it. This state of things 
naturally led to wide-spread disorder, and carried all the evils 
of civil war into every section and neighborhood of the State. 

To these evils were gradually added others, growing out of 
a division of sentiment, which afterwards ripened into sharp 
hostility, among the friends of the Union within the State. 
One of the earliest causes of this dissension was the action 
and removal of General Fremont, who arrived at St. Louis, to 
take command of the Western Department, on the 26th of 
July, 1861. On the 31st of August he issued a Proclamation, 
declaring that circumstances, in his judgment, of sufficient 
urgency, rendered it necessary that " the commanding (jeneral 
of the Department should assume the administrative power 
of the State," thus superseding entirely the authority of the 
civil rulers. He also proclaimed the whole State to be under 
martial law, declared that all persons taken with arms in their 
hands, within the designated lines of the Department, should 
be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty, shot ; and con- 
fiscating the property and emancipating the slaves of " all per- 
sons who should be proved to have taken an active part with 
the enemies of the United States." This latter clause, trans- 
cending the authority conferred by the confiscation act of 
Congress, was subsequently modified by order of the Presi- 
dent of the United States.* 



IV 



394 PRESIDENT LIIS"COLn's ADMLNISTKATIOX. 

On the 14th of October, after a personal inspection of af- 
fairs in that department by the Secretary of War, an order 
was issued from the War Department, in effect censuring 
General Fremont for ha\'ing expended very large sums of the 
public money, through agents of his own appointment, and 
not responsible to the government; — requiring all contracts 
and disbursements to be made by the proper officers of the 
army ; — directing the discontinuance of the extensive field- 
works, which the General was erecting around St. Louis and 
Jefferson City ; and also the barracks in construction around 
his head-quarters, and also notifying him that the oflScers, to 
whom he had issued commissions, would not be paid until 
those commissions should have been approved by the Presi- 
dent. On the 1st of November, General Fremont entered 
into an agreement with General Sterling Price, commanding 
the rebel forces in Missouri, by which each party stipulated 
that no further arrests of citizens should be made on either 
side for the expression of political opinions, and releasing all 
who were then in custody on such charges. 

On the 2d of November, General Fremont was relieved 
from his command in the Western Department, in consequence 
of his action in the matters above referred to, his command 
devolving on General Hunter, to whom, as soon as a change 
in the command of the Department had been decided on, the 
President had addressed the following letter : 

"WASHiNGTOif, October 24, 1861. 

Sir: — The command of the Department of the "West having devolved 
upon you, I propose to offer you a few suggestions, knowing how hazardous 
it is to bind down a distant commander in the field to specific fines of 
operation, as so much always depends on the knowledge of localities and 
passing events. It is intended, therefore, to leave considerable margin 
for the exercise of your judgment and discretion. 

The main rebel army (Price's) west of the Mississippi is beUeved to 
have passed Dade county in full retreat upon Northwestern Arkansas, 
leaving Missouri almost free from the enemy, excepting in the southeast 



THE PBESIDENT S LETTEIi TO GEN. HUoSITEK. 395 

part of the State. Assuming this basis of fact, it seems desirable — as 
you are not likely to overtake Price, and are in danger of making too 
Jong a line from your own base of supplies and re-enforeements — that 
you should give up the pursuit, halt your main army, divide it into two 
corps of observation, ono occupying Sedalia and the other Rolla, the 
present termini of railroads, then recruit the condition of both corps 
by re-establishing and improving their discipline and instruction, per- 
fecting their clothing and equipments, and providing less uncomfortable 
quarters. Of course, both railroads must be guarded and kept open, 
judiciously employing just so much force as is necessary for this. From 
these two points, Sedaha and Rolla, and especially in judicious co- 
operation with Lane on the Kansas border, it would be very easy to 
concentrate, and repel any army of the enemy returning on Missouri 
on the Southwest. As it is not probable any such attempt to return 
will be made before or during the approaching cold weather, before 
spring the people of Missouri will be in no favorable mood for renewing 
for next year tlie troubles which have so much afflicted and impoverished 
them during this. 

If you take this line of policy, and if, as I anticipate, you will see no 
enemy in great force approaching, you will have a surplus force which 
you can withdraw from those points, and direct to others, as may be 
needed — the raDroads furnishing ready means of re-enforcing those 
main points, if occasion requires. 

Doubtless local uprisings for a time will continue to occur, but those 
can be met by detachments of local forces of our own, and will ere long 
tire out of themselves. 

While, as stated at the beginning of this letter, a large discretion 
must be and is left with yourself, I feel sure that an indefinite pursuit 
of Price, or an attempt by this long and circuitous route, to reach 
Memphis, will be exhaustive beyond endurance, and w ill end in the loss 
of the whole force engaged in it. Your obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln. 
Tlie Commander of the Department of the "West. 

General Hunter's first act was to repudiate the agreement 
of Gen. Fremont with General Price, and, on the 18th of 
November, General Halleck arrived as his successor. 

The action of General Fremont had given rise to very seri- 
ous complaints on the part of the people of Missouri ; and 
these in turn had led to stronof demonstrations on his behalf. 



396 PEESiDENT Lincoln's adhinisteation. 

His removal was made the occasion for public manifestations 
of sympathy for him, and of censure for the government. 
An address was presented to him, signed by large numbers 
of the citizens of St. Louis, those of German birth largely 
predominating, in which his removal was ascribed to jealousy 
of his popularity, and to the fact that his policy in regard to 
emancipation was in advance of the government at Washing- 
ton. " You have risen," said this address, " too fast in popu- 
lar favor. The policy announced in your proclamation, al- 
though hailed as a political and military necessity, furnished 
your ambitious rivals and enemies with a cruel weapon for 
your intended destruction. The harbingers of truth will ever 
be crucified by the Pharisees. We cannot be deceived by 
shallow and flimsy pretexts, by unfounded and slanderous re- 
ports. We entertain no doubt of your ability to speedily 
confound and silence your traducers. The day of reckoning 
is not far distant, and the people will take care that the 
schemes of your opponents shall, in the end be signally de- 
feated." The General accepted these tributes to his merits, 
and these denunciations of the government, with grateful ac- 
knowledgments, saying that the kind and affectionate demon- 
strations which greeted him, cheered and strengthened his 
confi-dence — " my confidence," he said, " already somewhat 
wavering, iu our republican institutions." 

The sharp personal discussions to which this incident gave 
rise, were made still more bitter, by denunciations of General 
Halleck's course in excluding, for military reasons, which have 
been already noticed,* fugitive slaves from our lines, and by 
the contest that soon came up in the State Convention, on the 
general subject of emancipation. On the 7th of June, 1862, 
a bill was introduced into the Convention by Judge Breckin- 
ridge, of St Louis, for gradual emancipation, framed in ac- 
cordance with the recommendation of the President's Mes- 
* See page 292. 



EMANCIPATION IN MISSOUKI. 397 

sage. By the combined votes of those who were opposed to 
emancipation in any form, and those who were opposed to the 
President's plan of gradual emancipation, this bill was sum- 
marily laid on the table. But on the 13th, the subject was 
again brought up by a Message from Governor Gamble, calling 
attention to the fact, that Congress had passed a resolution, in 
accordance with the President's recommendation, declaring 
that " the United States ought to co-operate with any State 
which might adopt a gradual emancipation of slavery, giving 
to such State, at its discretion, compensation for the incon- 
venience, public and private, caused by such a change of sys- 
tem." This message was referred to a special committee, 
which reported resolutions, recognizing the generous spirit of 
this proposal, but declining to take any action upon it. These 
resolutions were adopted, and on the 16th a Mass Convention 
of Emancipationists, consisting of 195 delegates from 25 
counties, met at Jefferson City, and passed resolutions, declar- 
ing it to be the duty of the next General Assembly to pass 
laws, giving effect to a gradual system of emancipation on 
the basis proposed. 

At the State election, in the following November, the ques- 
tion of emancipation was the leading theme of controversy. 
Throughout the State the canvass turned upon this issue, and 
resulted in the choice of a decided majority of the Assembly 
favorable to emancipation. But the division in the ranks of 
this party still continued, and gave rise to very heated and 
bitter contests, especially in St. Louis. During the summer, 
the main rebel army having been driven from the State, and 
the Union army being of necessity in the main withdrawn to 
other fields, the State was overrun by reckless bands of rebel 
guerrillas, who robbed and plundered Union citizens, and cre- 
ated very great alarm among the people. In consequence 
of these outrages. Governor Gamble ordered the organization 
of the entire militia of the State, and authorized General 



398 PEESiDENT Lincoln's admixistkation. 

Schoficld to call into active service such portions of it as 
might be needed to put down marauders, and defend peace- 
able and loyal citizens. The organization was effected with 
great promptness, and the State militia became a powerful 
auxiliary of the national forces, and cleared all sections of the 
State of the lawless bands which had inflicted so much injury 
and committed so many outrages. 

On the 19th of September, the States of Missouri, Kansas, 
and Arkansas, were formed into a military district, of which 
the command was assigned to General Curtis, who was 
thoroughly in sympathy with the friends of immediate eman- 
cipation and the supporters of General Fremont in his differ- 
ences with the government. He had control of the na- 
tional forces in his district, but Governor Gamble did not give 
him command of the State militia. 

The differences of political sentiment between the two sec- 
tions of the Union men of the State came thus to be represented, 
to some extent, by two organized military forces ; and the 
contest between their respective partisans continued to be 
waged with increasing bitterness, greatly to the embarrassment 
of the government at Washington, and to the weakening of the 
Union cause. This continued until the spring of 18G3, when 
the President removed General Curtis from his command, and 
appointed General Schofield in his place. This gave rise to 
very vehement remonstrances and protests, to one of which, 
sent by telegraph, the President made the following reply : 

Tour dispatch of to-day is just received. It is very painful to me 
tliat you, in Missouri, cannot, or will not, settle your factional quarrel 
among yourselves. I have been tormented with it beyond endurance, 
for months, by both sides. Neither side pays the least respect to my 
appeals to your reason. I am now compelled to take hold of the case. 

A. Lincoln. 

To General Schofield himself, the President soon after ad- 
dressed the followinof letter : 



ArPOINTMENT OP GEN. SCnOFIELD. SOD 

ExECUTm; Mansion, ) 
"Washington, May 27, 1863. f 
General J. M. Scitofield : 

Dear Sir: — Having removed General Curtis and assigned you to the 
command of the Department of the Missouri, I thinlv it may be of some 
advantage to me to state to you why I did it. I did not remove Gen- 
eral Curtis because of my full conviction that he had done wrong by 
commission or omission. I did it because of a conviction in my mind 
that the Union men of Missouri, constituting, when united, a vast ma- 
jority of the people, have entered into a pestilent, factious quarrel, 
among themselves, General Curtis, perhaps not of choice, being the 
head of one faction, and Governor Gamble that of the other. After 
months of labor to reconcile the difficulty, it seemed to grow worse and 
worse, until I felt it my duty to break it up somehow, and as I could 
not remove Governor Gamble, I had to remove General Curtis. Now 
that you are in the position, I wish you to undo nothing merely because 
General Curtis or Governor Gamble did it, but to exercise your own 
judgment, and do right for the public interest. Let your military meas- 
ures be strong enough to repel the invaders and keep the peace, and 
not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people. It 
is a difficult role, and so much greater will be the honor if you perform 
it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably 
be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the 
other. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 

This action gave special dissatisfaction to the more radical 
Unionists of the State. They had been anxious to have the 
Provisional Government, of which Governor Gamble was the 
Executive head, set aside by the national authority, and the 
control of the State vested in a Military Governor clothed 
with the authority which General Fremont had assumed to 
exercise by his proclamation of August 31st, 1861 ; — and the 
Germans enlisted in the movement had made very urgent de- 
mands for the restoration of General Fremont himself. Sev- 
eral deputations visited Washington, for the purpose of repre- 
senting these views and wishes to the President, — though they 
by no means restricted their efforts at reform to matters with- 
in their own State, but insisted upon sundry changes in the 



400 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

Cabinet, upon the dismissal of General Halleck from the 
position of Commander of the Armies of the United States 
and upon other matters of equal magnitude and importance. 
The following report of President Lincoln's reply to these 
various requests, was made by a member of a Committee ap- 
pointed at a mass meeting, composed mainly of G-ermans, and 
held at St. Louis on the 10th of May: although made by a 
person opposed to the President's action, it probably gives a 
substantially correct statement of his remarks : 

Messrs. Emile Pretorious, Theodore Olsdausen, R. E. Rombattr, etc. : 
Gentlemen : — During a professional visit to Washington city, I pre- 
eented to the President of the United States, in compliance with your 
instructions, a copy of the resolutions adopted in mass meeting at St. 
Louis on the 10th of May, 1863, and I requested a reply to the suggestions 
therein contained. The President, after a careful and loud reading of the 
whole report of proceedings, saw proper to enter into a conversation of 
two hours' duration, in the course of which most of the topics embraced 
in the resolutions and other subjects were discussed. 

As my share in the conversation is of secondary importance, I propose 
to omit it entirely in this report, and, avoiding details, to communicate 
to you the substance of noteworthy remarks made by the President. 

1. The President said that it may be a misfortune for the nation that 
he was elected President. But, having been elected by the people, he 
meant to be President, and perform his duty according to his best under- 
standing, if he had to die for it. No General will be removed, nor will 
any change in the Cabinet be made, to suit the views or wishes of any 
particular party, faction or set of men. General Halleck is not guilty of 
the charges made against him, mos-t of which arise from misapprehension 
or ignorance of those who prefer them. 

2. The President said that it was a mistake to suppose that Generals 
John C. Fremont, B. F. Butler, and F. Sigel are " systematically kept out 
of command," as stated in the fourth resolution ; that, on the contrary, 
he fully appreciated the mei-its of the gentlemen named ; that by their 
own actions they had placed themselves in the positions which they 
occnpicd ; that he was not only willing, but anxious to place them again 
in command as soon as he coiild find spheres of action for them, with- 
out doing injustice to othoi-s, but that at present he "had more pegs 
than lioles to put them in." 

3. As to the want of unity, the President, without admitting such to 
be the case, intimated that each member of the Cabinet was responsible 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE MISSOUEI RADICALS. 401 

mainly for the manner of conducting tlie affiurs of liis particular depart- 
ment ; tliat there was no centralization of responsibility for the action 
of the Cabinet anywhere, except in the President himself. 

4. The dissensions between Union men in Missouri are due solely to a 
foctious spirit which is exceedingly reprehensible. The two parties 
" ought to have their heads knocked together." " Either would rather 
fice the defeat of their adversary than that of JefTerson Davis." To this 
spirit of faction is to be ascribed the failure of the Legislature to elect 
senators and the defeat of the Missouri Aid Bill in Congress, the passage 
of which the President strongly desired. 

The President said that the Union men in Missouri who are in favor 
of gradual emancipation represented his views better than those who aro 
in favor of immediate emancipation. In explanation of his views on this 
subject, the President said that in his speeches he had frequently used as 
an illustration, the case of a man who had an excrescence on the back 
of his neck, the removal of which, in one operation, would result in the 
death of the patient, while "tinkering it off by degrees" would preserve 
life. Although sorely tempted, I did not reply with the illustration of 
the dog whose tail was amputated by inches, but confined myself to 
arguments. The President announced clearly that, as far as h£ was at present 
advised, tJie Radicals in Missouri had no right to corisider themselves the ex- 
ponents of his views on tJie subject of emancipation in that State. 

5. General Curtis was not relieved on account of any wrong act or 
great mistake committed by him. The System of Provost-Marshals, 
established by him throughout the State, gave rise to violent complaint. 
That the President had thought at one time to appoint General Fremont 
in his place ; that at another time he had thought of appointing General 
McDowell, whom he characterized as a good and loyal though very un- 
fortunate soldier ; and that, at last. General Schofield was appointed, with 
a view, if possible, to reconcile and satisfy the two factions in Missouri. 
He has instructions not to interfere with either party, but to confine 
himself to his military duties. I assure you, gentlemen, that our side 
was as fully presented as the occasion permitted. At the close of the 
conversation, the President remarked that there was evidently a " serious 
misunderstanding" springing vip between him and the Germans of St. 
Louis, which he would like to see removed. Observing to him that the 
difference of opinion related to facts, men, and measures, I withdrew. 

I am, very respectfully, etc. 

James Taussig. 

On the 1st of July the State Convention, in session at 
Jefferson City, passed an amendment to the Constitution de- 
claring that slavery should cease to exist in Missouri on the 



402 PKKSiDE^^T Lincoln's administration. 

4th of July, 1870, with certain specified exceptions. This, 
however, was by no means accepted as a final disposition of 
the matter. The demand was made for immediate emancipa- 
tion, and Gov. Gamble and the members of the Provisional 
Government who had favored the policy adopted by the 
State Convention, were denounced as the advocates of slavery 
and allies of the rebellion. In the early part of August a 
band of rebel guerrillas made a raid into the town of Law- 
rence, Kansas, and butchered in cold blood over two hundred 
unarmed citizens of the place. This brutal act aroused the 
most intense excitement in the adjoining State of Missouri, 
of which the opponents of the Provisional Government took 
advantage to throw upon it and General Schofield, who had com- 
mand of the State militia as well as of the national forces, the 
responsibility in having permitted this massacre to take place. 
A 'M-dss Convention was held at Jefferson City on the 2d 
of September, at which resolutions were adopted denouncing 
the military policy pursued in the State and the delegation 
of military powers to the provisional government. A Com- 
mittee of one from each county was appointed to visit "Wash- 
insrton and lay their grievances before the President ; and 
arrangements were also made for the appointment of a Com- 
mittee of Public Safety, to organize and arm the loyal men of 
the State, and, in the event of not obtaining relief, to call on 
the people in their sovereign capacity to " take such measures 
of redress as the emergency might require." In the latter part 
of September the Committee appointed by this Convention 
visited Washington and had an interview with the President 
on the 30th, in which they represented Governor Gamble and 
General Schofield as in virtual alliance with the rebels, and 
demanded the removal of the latter as an act of justice to the 
loyal and anti-slavery men of the State. The Committee 
visited several of the northern cities, and held public meetings 
for the purpose of enlisting public sentiment in their support. 



THE PEESIDENT TO THE MISSOURI COMMITTEE. 403 

At these meetings it was claimed that the radical emanci- 
pation party was the only one which represented the loyalty 
of Missouri, and President Lincoln was very strongly cen- 
sured for " closing his ears to just, loyal, and patriotic de- 
mands of the radical party, while he indorsed the disloyal and 
oppressive demands of Governor Gamble, General Schoficld, 
and their adherents," 

On the 5th of October President Lincoln made to the repre- 
sentations and requests of the Committee the following reply : 

Executive Mansion, WAsniNGTON, Oct. 5, 1863. 
Hon. Charles Drake and others, Committee: 

Gentlemen: — Your original address, presented on the SOtli ult., and 
the four supplementary ones presented on the 3d inst. , have been care- 
fully considered. I hope you will regard the other duties claiming my 
attention, togethei- witli the great length and importance of these docu- 
ments, as constituting a sufficient apology for my not having responded 
sooner. 

These papers, framed for a common object, consist of the things de- 
manded, and the reasons for demanding them. 

The things demanded are : 

First — That General Sehofield shall be relieved, and General Butler be 
appointed as Commander of the Militaiy Department of Missouri ; 

Second — That the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may be broken 
up, and National forces be substituted for it ; and 

Third — That at elections, persons may not be allowed to vote who are 
not entitled by law to do so. 

Among the reasons given, enough of suffering and wrong to Union 
men, is certainly, and I suppose truly, stated. Yet the whole case, as 
presented, fails to convince me that General Sehofield, or the enrolled 
militia, is responsible for that suffering and wrong. The whole can be 
explained on a more charitable, and, as I think, a more rational hypo- 
thesis. 

We are in civil war. In such cases there always is a main question ; 
but in this case that question is a perplexing compound— Union and 
Slavery. It thus becomes a question not of two sides merely, but of at 
least four sides, even among those who are for the Union, saying nothing 
of those who are against it. Thus, those who are for the Union ivilh^ but 
not withcnd Slavery — those for it without but not with — those for it 2cifh or 
without, but prefer it with, and those for it with or witlwut, but prefer it 
witJwut. 



404 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTRATION. 

. Among these, again, is a subdiTision of those who are for gradual, but 
not for immediate, and those who are for immediate, but not for gradual 
extinction of slavery. 

It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion and even more, 
may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. Yet, all being 
for the Union, by reason of these differences, each will prefer a different 
way of sustaining the Union. At once, sincerity is questioned, and mo- 
tives are assailed. Actual war coming, blood grows hot, and blood is 
spilled. TUought is forced from old channels into confusion. Decep- 
tion breeds and thrives. Confidence dies, and universal suspicion reigns. 
Each man feels an impulse to kill his neighbor, lest he be killed by him. 
Revenge and retaliation follow. And all this, as before said, may be 
among honest men only. But this is not all. Every foul bird comes 
abroad, and eveiy dirty reptile rises up. These add crime to confusion. 
Strong measures deemed indispensable but harsh at best, such men make 
worse by maladministration. Murders for old grudges, and murders for 
pelf proceed under any cloak that will best serve for the occasion. 

These causes amply account for what has occurred in Missouri, with- 
out ascribing it to the weakness or wickedness of any general. The 
newspaper files, those chroniclers, of current events, wUl show that the 
evils now complained of, were quite as prevalent under Fremont, Hun- 
ter, Halleck, and Curtis, as under Schofield. If the former had greater 
force opposed to them, they also had greater force with which to meet 
it. When the organized rebel army left the State, the main Federal force 
had to go also, leaving the Department Commander at home, relatively 
no stronger than before. Without disparaging any, I affirm with confi- 
dence, that no Commander of that Department has, in proportion to his 
means, done better than General Schofield. 

The first specific charge against General Schofield is, that the enrolled 
militia was placed under his command, whereas it had not been placed 
under the coinmuud of General Curtis. The fact is, I believe, true ; but 
you do not poii)t out, nor can I conceive how that did, or could, injure 
loyal men or the Union cause. 

You charge that Genei-al Curtis being superseded by General Schofield, 
Franklin A. Dick was superseded by James 0. Broadhead as Provost- 
Marshal General. No very specific showing is made as to how this did 
or could injure the Union cause. It recalls, however, the condition of 
things, as presented to me, which led to a change of commander of that 
department. 

To restrain contraband intelligence and trade, a system of searches, 
seizures, permits and passes, had been introduced, I think, by General 
Fremont. When General Halleck came, he found and continued the sys- 
tem, and added an order, applicable to some parts of the State, to levy 
and collect contributions from noted rebels, to compensate losses, and 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE illSSOUKI COMMITTEE. 405 

relieve destitution caused by the rebellion. Ttie ar;tion of General Fre- 
mont and General Halleck, as stated, constituted a sort of system -wbich 
General Curtis found in full operation when he took command of the de- 
partment. That there was a necessity for something of the sort was 
clear ; but that it could only be justified by stem necessity, and that it 
was liable to great abuse in administration, was equally clear. Agents to 
execute it, contrary to the great prayer, were led into temptation. Some 
might, while others would not resist that temptation. It was not possi- 
ble to hold any to a very strict accountability ; and those yielding to the 
temptation, would sell permits and passes to those who would pay most, 
aud most readily for them ; and would seize property and collect levies 
in the aptest way to fill their own pockets. Money being the object, the 
man having money, whether loyal or disloyal, would be a victim. This 
practice doubtless existed to some extent, and it was a real additional 
e\41, that it could be, and was plausibly charged to exist in greater ex- 
tent than it did. 

When General Curtis took command of the department, Mr. Dick, 
against whom I never knew anything to allege, had general charge of this 
system. A controversy in regard to it rapidly grew into almost unman- 
ageable proportions. One side ignored the necessity and magnified the 
evils of the system, while tlie other ignored the evils and magnified the 
necessity ; and each bitterly assaQed the other. I could not faU to see 
that the controversy enlarged in the same proportion as the professed 
Union men there distinctly took sides in two opposing political parties. 
I exhausted my wits, and very nearly my patience also, in efforts to con- 
vince both that the evils they charged on each other were inherent in the 
case, and could not be cured by giving either party a victory over the 
other. 

Plainly, the irritating system was not to be perpetual ; and it was 
plausibly urged that it could be modified at once with advantage. The 
case could scarcely be worse, and whether it could be made better could 
only be determined by a trial. In this \-iew, and not to ban, or brand 
General Curtis, or to give a victory to any party, I made the change of 
commander for the department. I now learn that soon after this change 
Mr. Dick was removed, aud that Mr. Broadhead, a gentleman of no less 
good character, was put in the place. The mere tact of this change is 
more distinctly complained of than is any conduct of the new officer, or 
other consequence of the change. 

I gave the new commander no- instructions as to the administration of 
the system mentioned, beyond what is contained in the private letter 
afterward surreptiously published, in which I direct-ed him to act solely 
for the public good, and independently of both parties. Neither any- 
thing you have presented me, nor anything I have otherwise learned, has 
convinced me that he has been unfaithful to this charge. 



406 PRESIDENT Li:JfCOLx's ADMIXISTEATIOX. 

Imbecility is urged as one cause for removing General Schoficld, and 
the late massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, is pressed as evidence of that im- 
becility. To my mind that fact scarcely tends to prove the proposition. 
That massacre is only an example of what Griersou, John Morgan, and 
many others, might have repeatedly done on their respective raids, had 
they chosen to incur the personal hazard, and possessed the fiendish hearts 
to do it. 

The charge is made that General Schofield, on purpose to protect the 
Lawrence murderers, would not allow them to be pursued into Missouri. 
While no punishment could be too sudden or too severe for those mur- 
derers, I am well satisfied that the preventing of the threatened remedial 
raid into Missouri was the only way to avoid an indiscrimate massacre 
there, including probably more innocent than guilty. Instead of con- 
demning, I therefore approve what I understand General Schofield did in 
that respect. 

The charge that General Schofield has pui-posely withheld protection 
from loyal people, and purposely facilitated the objects of the disloyal, 
are altogether beyond my power of belief I do not arraign the veracity 
of gentlemen as to the facts complained of; but I do more than question 
the judgment which would infer that these facts occurred in accordance 
with the purposes of General Schofield. 

With my present views, I must decline to remove General Schofield. 
In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I sincerely -nish it were 
convenient to assign him a suitable command. 

In order to meet some existing evils, I have addressed a letter of in- 
struction to General Schofield, a copy of which I inclose to you. As to 
the " Enrolled Militia," I shall endeavor to ascertain, better than I now 
know, what is its exact value. Let me say now, however, that your pro- 
posal to substitute national force for the " Enrolled Militia," implies that, 
in your judgment, the latter is doing something which needs to be done ; 
and if so, the proposition to throw that force away, and to supply its 
place by bringing other forces from the field where they are urgently 
needed, seems to me very extraordinary. Whence shall they come? 
Shall they be withdrawn from Banks, or Grant, or Steele, or Rosecrans ? 

Few things have been so grateful to my anxious feelings, as when, in 
June last, the local force in Missouri aided Genend Schofield to so prompt- 
ly send a large general force to the relief of General Grant, then investing 
Vieksbuvg, and menaced from without by General Johnston. Was this 
all wrong ? Should the Enrolled Militia then have been broken up, and 
General Heron kept from Grant, to police Missouri ? So far from finding 
cause to object, I confess to a sympathy for whatever relieves our general 
force in Missouri, and allows it to serve elsewhere. 

I therefore, as at present advised, cannot attempt the destruction of 
tbc Enrolled Militia of Missouri. I may add, that the force being under 



THE PKESIDE>-T AND GEN. SCHOFIELD. 407 

the national military control, it is also within the proclamation with re- 
gard to the habeas corjmn. 

I concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and 
have, as you see, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do nqt-J'eel 
justilied to enter upon the broad field you present in regard to the politi- 
cal differences between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time 
I have done and said what appeared to me proper to do and say. The 
public knows it well. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it 
obliges me to follow nobody. The Radicals and Cousei-vatives each 
agree with me in some things and disagree in others. I could wish both 
to agree with me in all things; for then they would agree with each 
other, and would be too strong for any foe from any quarter. They, how- 
ever, choose to do otherwise, and I do not question their right. I, too, 
shall do what seems to be my duty. I hold whoever commands in Mis- 
souri or elsewhere responsible to me, and not to either Radicals or Consei-v- 
atives. It is my duty to hear all ; but, at last, I must, within my sphere, 
judge what to do and what to forbear. 

Your obedient sei-vant, A. Lincoln. 



INSTRUCTIONS TO GENERAL SCHOFIELD. 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, Oct. 1, 1S63. 
General John M. Schofield: 

There is no organized military force in avowed opposition to the Gene- 
ral Government now in Missouri, and if any shall reappear, your duty in 
regard to it will be too plain to require any si^ecial instruction. Still, the 
condition of things, both there and elsewhere, is such as to render it in- 
dispensable to maintain, for a time, the United States military establish- 
ment in that State, as well as to rely upon it for a fair contribution of 
sujpport to that establishment generally. Tour immediate duty in regard 
to Missouri now is to advance the efficiency of that establishment, and to 
so use it, as far as practicable, to compel the excited people there to let 
one another alone. 

Under your recent order, which I have approved, you will only arrest 
individuals, and suppress assemblies or newspapers, when they may be 
working ^^«?/»a6?« injury to the military in your charge; and in no other 
case will you interfere with the expression of opinion in any form, or al- 
low it to be interfered with violently by others. In this you have a dis- 
cretion to exercise with great caution, calmness, and forbearance. 

With the matter of removing the inhabitants of certain counties e-.t 
nia^se, and of removing certain individuals from time to time, who are 
supposed to be mischievous, I am uot now interfering, but am leaving 
to your own discretion. 

Nor am I interfering with what may btill seeo. to you to be necessary 



408 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administration. 

restrictioas upon trade and intercourse. I think proper, lioweyer, to 
enjoin upon you tlie following: Allow no part of the militaiy under your 
command to be engaged in either returning fugitive slaves, or in forcing 
or onticing slaves from their homes ; and, so far as practicable, enforce 
the same forbearance upon the people. 

Report to me your opinion upon the availability for good of the en- 
rolled militia of the State. Allow no one to enlist colored troops, ex- 
cept upon orders from you, or from here through you. 

AUow no one to assume the functions of confiscating property, under 
the law of Congress, or otherwise, except upon orders from here. 

At elections see that those and only those, are allowed to vote, who are 
entitled to do so by the laws of Missouri, including as of those laws the 
restrictions laid by the Missouri Convention upon those who may have 
participated in the rebellion. 

So far as practicable, you will, by means of your military force, expel 
guerrillas, marauders, and murderers, and all who are known to harbor, 
aid, or abet them. But in like mauiier you will repress assumptions of 
unauthorized individuals to perform the same service, because under pre- 
tence of doing this they become marauders and murderers themselves. 

To now restore "peace, let the military obey orders ; and those not of 
the military leave each other aloue, thus not breaking the peace them- 
Bcives. 

In giving the above directions, it is not intended to restrain you in 
other expedient and necessary matters not falling within their range. 
Tour obedient servant, A. LracoLX. 

The condition of affairs in this department continued to be 
greatly disturbed by political agitations, and the personal con- 
troversies to which they gave rise ; and after a lapse of some 
months the President deemed it wise to relieve General Scho- 
field from further command in this department. This was 
done by an order from the War Department, dated January 
24th, 1864, by which, also. General Rosecrans was appointed 
in his place. In his order assuming command, dated January 
30th, General Rosecrans paid a very high compliment to his 
predecessor, for the admirable order in which he found the 
business of the Department, and expressed the hope that he 
might receive " the honest, firm, and united support of all true 
national and Union men of the Department, without regard 
to politics, creed, or party, in his endeavors to maintain law 



Tii;: rnESiDENT and the churcues. 409 

and re-establish peace, and secure prosperity throughout its 
limits." 

Before closing; this notice of the perplexities and annoy- 
ances to which the President was subjected by the domestic 
contentions of Missouri, we may mention, as an illustration 
of the extent to which they were carried, the case of Rev. 
Dr. McPheeters, who had been silenced by General Curtis for 
preaching disloyalty to his congregation in St. Louis. The 
incident gave rise to a good deal of excitement, which was 
continued throughout the year. Toward the close of it the 
President wrote the following letter in reply to an appeal for 
his interference : 

Executive Mansion, "Washington, Dec. 23, 1863. 

I have just looked over a petition signed by some three dozen citi- 
zens of St. Louis, and their accompanying letters, one by yourself, one 
by a Mr. Nathan Ranney, and one by a Mr. John D. Coalter, the whole 
relating to the Rev. Dr. McPheeters. Tlie petition prays, in tlie name 
of justice and mercy, that I will restore Dr. McPheeters to aU his 
ecclesiastical rights. 

This gives no intimation as to what ecclesiastical rights are with- 
drawn. Tour letter states that Provost-Marshal Dick, about a year 
ago, ordered the arrest of Dr. McPheeters, Pastor of the Yine Street 
Church, prohibited him from officiating, and pla.'jed the management of 
affairs of the church out of the control of the chosen trustees ; and 
near the close you state that a certain course " would insure his re- 
lease." Mr. Ranney's letter says : " Dr. Samuel McPheeters is enjoy- 
ing all the rights of a civilian, but cannot preach the gospell" Mr. 
Coalter, in his letter, asks : " Is it not a strange illustration of the con- 
dition of things, that the question who shall be allowed to preach in a 
church in SL Louis shall be decided by the President of the United 
etates ?" 

Now, all this sounds very strangely; and, withal, a little as if you 
gentlemen, making the application, do not understand the case alike; 
one affirming that his doctor is enjoying all the rights of a civilian, and 
another po inting out to me what will secure his release ! On the 2d of 
•January last, I wrote to General Curtis in relation to Mr. Dick's order 
upon Doctor McPheeters ; and, as I suppose the doctor is enjoving all 
18 



410 PRESIDEJTT LIXCOLN's ADMINISTRATION. 

the rights of a civihan, I only quote that part of my letter -n-hich re- 
lates to the church. It was as follows : " But I must add that the 
United States Government must not, as by this order, undertake to run 
the churches. "When an individual, in a church or out of it, becomes 
dangerous to the public interest, he must be checked ; but the churches, 
as such, must take care of themselves. It will not do for the United 
States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches." 

This letter going to General Curtis, then in command, I supposed, of 
course, it was obeyed, especially as I heard no further complaint from 
Doctor Mo. or his friends for nearly an entire year. I have never inter- 
fered, nor thought of interfering, as to who shall or shall not preach in 
any church ; nor have I knowingly or believingly tolerated any one else 
to interfere by my authority. If any one is so interfering by color of 
ray authority, I would like to have it specifically made known to me. 

If, after all, what is now sought, is to have me put Doctor Mc. back 
over the heads of a majority of his own congregation, that, too, will 
be declined. I will not have control of any church or any side. 

A. Lincoln. 

The Presbytery, the regular church authority in the matter, 
subsequently decided that Dr. McPheeters could not return 
to his pastoral charge. 



The victories of the Union arms during the summer of 1863 
— the repulse of the rebels at Gettysburg, the capture of 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and the consequent restoration 
of the Mississippi to the commerce of the nation, produced 
the most salutary effect upon the public sentiment of the 
country. There was a good deal of partisan opposition to 
specific measures of the Administration, and in some quarters 
this took the form of open hostility to the further prosecution 
of the war. But the spirit and determination of the people 
were at their heiglit, and the Union party entered upon the 
political contests of the Autumn of 1863, in the several States, 
with confidence and courage. 

The President had been invited by the Republican State 



THE PEESIDENT's LETTER TO ILLINOIS. 411 

Committee of Illinois to attend the State Convention, to be 
held at Springfield on the 3d of September. Finding it im- 
possible to accept the invitation, he wrote in reply the following 
letter, in which several of the most conspicuous features of his 
policy are defended against the censures by which they had 
been assailed : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, August 26, 1863. 
Hon. James C. Conkling : 

My Dear Sir : — Tour letter inviting me to attend a mass meeting of 
unconditional Union men, to be held at the capital of Illinois, on the 3d 
day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable for me 
thus to meet my old friends at my own home ; but I cannot just now be 
absent from here so long as a visit there would require. 

The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion 
to the Union ; and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me 
for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men 
whom no p;irtisan malice or partisan hope can make false to the nation'e 
life. 

There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say : 
you desire peace, and you blame me that Ave do not have it. But how can 
we attain it ? There are but three conceivable ways : First — to suppress 
the Rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it ? 
If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to 
give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it '? If you are, you 
should say so plainly. If you are not fov force, nor yet for dissolution, 
there only remains some imaginable compromise. 

I do not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of 
the Union is now possible. All that I learn leads to a directly opposite 
belief. The strength of the Rebellion is its military, its army. That 
army dominates all the country, and all the people within its range. 
Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in op- 
position to that army, is simply nothing for the present ; because such 
man or men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compro- 
mise, if one were made with them. 

To illustrate : Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of the 
North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise 
embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that compromise 
be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania ? Meade's army can keep 
Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it out 
of existence. But no paper compromise to which the controllers of Lee's 
army are not agreed can at all affect that army. In an effort at such 



412 rRKsiDKXT Lincoln's admtxistkation. 

compromise -n e woiild waste time, which the enemy would improve to 
our disadvantage ; and that would be all. 

A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who 
control the rebel army, or with the people, first liberated from the domi- 
nation of that anny by the success of our own army. Now, allow me to 
assure you that no word or intimation from that rebel array, or from any 
of the men controlling it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever 
come to my knowledge or belief. All charges and insinuations to the 
contrary are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you that if any 
such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a 
secret from you. I freely acknowledge myself to be the servant of the 
people, according to the bond of seiwice, the United States Constitution; 
and that, as such, I am responsible to them. 

But, to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. 
Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon 
that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while you, 1 
suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure 
which is not consistent with even your view, provided that you are foi 
the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation ; to which you re 
plied you wished not be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you 
to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from greatei 
taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means. 

You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have 
it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think 
the Constitution invests its Commander-in-Chief with the law of war in 
time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are 
property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that by the law of 
war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed ? 
And is it not needed whenever it helps us and hurts the enemy ? Armies, 
the world over, destroy enemies' property when they cannot use it ; and 
even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents 
do all in their power to help themselves or hurt the enemy, except a few 
things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the 
massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, male and female. 

But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it is 
not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot be retracted, any 
more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you profess to think 
Its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. Why better after 
the retraction than hej'ore the issue ? There was more than a year and a 
half of trial to suppress the Rebellion before the Proclamation was issued, 
the last one hundred days of wliich passed under an explicit notice that 
it was coming, unless averted by those iu revolt returning to their 
allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as favorably for us since 
the issue of the Proclamation as before. 



THE PKESICE^'t's LEITEK TO ILLINOIS. 413 

I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of 
the commanders of our armies in the field, who have given us our most 
important victories, believe the Emancipation policy and the use of 
colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to the llebellion, 
and that at least one of those important successes could not have been 
achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. 

Among the commanders who hold these views are some who have 
never had any affinity with what is called " Abolitionism," or with 
" Kepublican party politics," but who hold them purely as military 
opinions. I submit their opinions as entitled to some weight against 
the objections often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are 
unwise as military measures, and were not adopted as such in good 
faith. 

You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem 
willing to fight for you ; but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively, to 
save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose to aid you in 
saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to 
the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time 
then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes. I thought that 
in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the negroes should 
cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy in his re- 
Bistauce to you. Do you think diflferently ? I thought that whatever 
negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white 
soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you ? 
But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do 
any thing for us if we will do nothing for them ? If they stake their lives 
for us they must be prompted by the strongest motive, even the promise 
of freedom. And the promise, being made, must be kept. 

The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to 
the sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it ; nor yet wholly to them. 
Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and 
Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more 
colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On the spot, their part of the 
history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great national 
one, and let none be slighted who bore an honorable part in it. And 
while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, even 
that is not all. It is hard to say that any thing has been more bravely and 
well done than at Autietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many 
fields of less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At all 
the watery margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the 
broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, 
and wiierever the ground was a little damp tliey have been and noaiie 
their tracks. Thanks to all. For the great Republic — for the principle 
it li\ cs by and keeps alive — for man's vast future— thanks to all. 



414 piiEsiDENT Lincoln's almixistratiox. 

Peace does not appear so dietant as it did. I hope it will come soon 
and come to stay ; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future 
time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be 
no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take 
such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay tlie cost. And there will 
be some black men who can remember that with sLent. tongue, and 
clinched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, tbey have 
helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will 
be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and de- 
ceitful speech they have striven to hinder it. 

Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us be 
quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a 
just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result. 

Tours, very truly, A. Lincoln. 

The result of the canvass justified the confidence of the 
friends of the Administration. Every State in which elec- 
tions were held, with the single exception of New Jersey, 
voted to sustain the Government ; and in all the largest and 
most important States the majorities were so large as to make 
the result of more than ordinaiy significance. In Ohio, Val- 
landigham, who had been put in nomination mainly on account 
of the issue he had made with the Government in the matter 
of his arrest, was defeated by a majority of nearly 100,000. 
New York, which had elected Governor Seymour the year 
before, and had been still further distinguished and disgraced 
by the anti-draft riots of July, gave a majority of not far 
from 30,000 for the Administration ; and Pennsylvania, in 
spite of the personal participation of General McClellan in the 
canvass against him, re-elected Gov. Curtin by about the same 
majority. Those results followed a very active and earnest 
canvass, in wliich the opponents of the Administration put 
forth their most vigorous efforts for its defeat. The ground 
taken by its friends in every State was that which had been 
held by the President from the beginning — that the rebellion 
must be suppressed and the Union preserved at whatever cost 
— that this could only be done by force, and that it w-*s 



THE ELECTIONS OF 1863. 415 

not only the right but the duty of the Government to use all 
tlie means at its command, not incompatible with the laws of 
war and the usages of civilized nations, for the accomplish- 
ment of this result. They vindicated the action of the Gov- 
ernment in the matter of arbitrary arrests, and sustained 
throughout the canvass, in every State, the policy of the Presi- 
dent in regard to slavery and in issuing the Proclamation of 
Emancipation as a military measure, against the vehement and 
earnest efforts of the Opposition. The result was, therefore, 
justly claimed as a decided verdict of the people in support 
of the Government. It was so regarded by all parties through- 
out the country, and its effect upon their action was of marked 
importance. While it gave renewed vigor and courage to the 
friends of the Administration everywhere, it developed the 
division of sentiment in the ranks of the Opposition, which, 
in its incipient stages, had largely contributed to their de- 
feat. The majority of that party were inclined to acquiesce 
in the deliberate judgment of the country, that the rebellion 
could be subdued only by successful war, and to sustain the 
Government in whatever measures might be deemed necessary 
for its effectual prosecution : — but the resolute resistance 
of some of its more conspicuous leaders has thus far withheld 
them from open action in this direction. 



416 PRESIDENT LIXCOLN's ADMINISTRATIOX. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE CONGRESS OF 1863-4. MESSAGE OP THE PRESIDENT. — 

ACTION OF THE SESSION. 

Congress met on Monday, December 7, 1863, The 
House of Representatives was promptly organized by the 
election of Hon. Schuyler CoMax, a Republican from Indiana, 
to be Speaker — he receiving 101 votes out of 181, the whole 
number cast. Mr. Cox, of Ohio, was the leading candidate of 
the Democratic opposition, but he received only 51 votes, the 
remaining 29 being divided among several Democratic mem- 
bers. In the Senate, the Senators from Western Virginia 
were admitted to their seats by a vote. of 36 to 5, 

On the 9th, the President transmitted to both Houses the 
following Message : 

Fellow- CiU-zens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

Another year of health and of sufSciently abundant harvests has 
passed. For these, and especially for the improved condition of our 
national affairs, our renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due. 
"We remain in peace and friendship -svith foreign Powers. Tlie efforts of 
disloyal citizens of the United States to involve us in foreign wars to aid 
an inexcusable insurrection have been unavaihng. Her Britannic Majes- 
ty's Government, as was justly expected, have exercised their authority 
to prevent the departure of new hostile expeditions from British port& 

The Emperor of France has, by a like proceeding, promptly vindicated 
the noutrahty which lie proclaimed at the beginning of the contest. 

Questions of great intricacy and importance have arisen out of the 
blockade, and other belligerent operations between tlie Government and 
several of tlie maritime Powers, but they have been discussed, and, as 
far as was possible, accommodated in a spirit of frankness, justice, and 
mutual good-will. 

It is especially gratif, uig that our prize Courts, by the impartiaUty of 



TUE president's MESSAGE. 41 7 

their adjudications, have commanded the respect and confidence of 
maritime Powers. 

The supplemental treaty between the United States and Great Britain 
for the suppression of the African Slave trade, made on the iTth day of 
February last, has been duly ratified and carried into execution. It is 
believed that so far as American ports and American citizens are con- 
cerned, that inluinian and odious traffic has been brought to an end. 

I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of the Senate, to 
concur with the interested commercial Powers, in an arrangement for 
the liquidation of tlie Scheldt dues, upon the principles which have been 
heretofore adopted in regard to the imposts upon navigation in the waters 
of Denmark. 

The long-pending controversy between this Government and that of 
Chili, touching the seizure at Sitana, in Peru, by Chilian officers, of a 
large amount in treasure, belonging to citizens of the United States, has 
been bi'ought to a close by the award of His Majesty the King of the 
Belgians, to whose arbitration the question was referred by the parties. 

The subject was thoroughly and patiently examined by that justly 
respected magistrate, and although the sum awarded to the claimants 
may not have been as large as they expected, there is no reason to dis- 
trust the wisdom of His Majesty's decision. That decision was promptly 
complied with by Chili when inteUigence in regard to it reached that 
country. 

The Joint Commission under the act of the last session for carrying 
into effect the Convention with Peru on the subject of claims, has been 
organized at Lima, and is engaged in the business intrusted to it. 

Difficulties concerning interoceanic transit through Nicaragua, are in 
course of amicable adjustment. 

In conformity with principles set forth in my last Annual Message, I 
have received a representative from the United States of Colombia, and 
have accredited a Minister to that Republic. 

Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon 
my attention the uncertain state of international questions touching the 
rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens abroad. 

In regard to some Governments, these rights are at least partially de- 
fined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it expressly stipulated 
that in the event of civil war a foreigner residing in this country, within 
the hues of the insurgents, is to be exempted from the rule which 
classes him as a belligerent, in whose behalf the Government of his 
country cannot expect any privileges or immunities distinct from that 
18* 



418 PRESIDENT LIXCOLX S ADMINISTRATION. 

character. I regret to say, however, that such claims have been put 
forward, and, in some instances, in behalf of foreigners who have lived 
in the United States the greater part of their lives. 

There is reason to believe that many persons born in foreign coun- 
tries, who have declared thou- intention to become citizens, or who have 
been fully naturalized, have evaded the military duty required of them 
by denying the fact, and thereby throwing upon the Government the 
burden of proof. It has been found difficult or impracticable to obtain 
this proof, from the want of guides to the proper sources of information. 
These might be supplied by requiring Clerks of Courts, where declarations 
of intention may be made, or naturalizations effected, to send periodically 
lists of the names of the persons naturalized or declaring their inten- 
tion to become citizens, to the Secretary of the Interior, In whose De- 
partment those names might be arranged and printed for general informa- 
tion. There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become 
citizens of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties im- 
posed by the laws of their native countries, to wliich, on becoming natural- 
ized here, they at once repair, and though never returning to the United 
States, they still claim the interposition of this Government as citizens. 

Many altercations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of 
this abuse. It is, therefore, submitted to your serious consideration. It 
miglit be advisable to fix a limit beyond which no citizen of the United 
States residing abroad may claim the interposition of his Government. 

The right of suflrage has often been assumed and exercised by aliens 
under pretences of naturalization, which they have disavowed when 
drafted into the military service. 

Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the Emperor of 
Russia, which, it is believed, will result in effecting a continuous line of 
telegraph tlirough that l^mpire from our Pacific coast. 

I recommend to your favorable consideration the subject of an inter- 
national telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean, and also of a telegraph be- 
tween this Capital and the national forts along the Atlantic seaboard and 
the Gulf of Mexico. Such communications, established with any reason- 
able outlay, would be economical as well as effective aids to the diplo- 
matic, military, and naval service. 

The Consular system of the United States, under the enactments of 
the last Congress, begins to be self-sustaining, and tliere is reason to 
hope that it may become entirely so with the increase of trade, which 
will ensue whenever peace is restored. 

Our Ministers abroa I have been faitlifnl in defending American 



THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE. 419 

rights. Id protecting commercial interests, our Consuls have necessarily 
had to encounter increased labors and responsibilities growing out of the 
war. These they have, for the most part, met and discharged with zeal 
and efficiency. This acknowledgment justly includes those Consuls 
who, residing in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Japan, China, and other 
Oriental countries, are charged with complex functions and extraordi- 
nary powers. 

The condition of the several organized territories is generally satis- 
factory, although Indian disturbances in New ilexico have not been 
entirely suppressed. 

The mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, and 
Arizona, are proving far richer tlian has been heretofore understood. I 
lay before you a communication on this subject from the Governor of 
New Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the expediency of 
estabhshing a system for the encouragement of emigration. Although 
this source of national wealth and strength is again flowing with greater 
freedom than for several years before the insurrection occurred, there 
is stUl a great deficiency of laborers in every field of industry, especially 
in agriculture and in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious 
metals. While the demand for labor is thus increased here, tens of thou- 
sands of persons, destitute of remunerative occupation, are thronging our 
foreign consulates, and offering to emigrate to the United States, if essen- 
tial, but very cheap, assistance can be afforded them. It is easy to see 
that under the sharp discipline of civil war the nation is beginning a new 
life. This noble effort demands the aid, and ought to receive the 
attention and support of the Government. 

Injuries unforeseen by the Government, and unintended, may in some 
cases have been inflicted on the subjects or citizens of foreign countries, 
both at sea and on land, by persons in the service of the United States. 
As this Government expects redress from other Powers when similar 
injuries are inflicted by persons in their service upon citizens of the 
United States, we must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the 
existing judicial tribunals are inadequate to this purpose, a special Court 
may be authorized, with power to hear and decide such claims of the 
character referred to as may have arisen under treaties and the pubUc 
law. Conventions for adjusting the claims by joint commission have 
been proposed to some Governments, but no definite answer to the prop- 
osition has yet been received from any. 

In the course of ;he session I shall probably have occasion to request 
you to provide indemni.ication to claimants where decrees of restitution 



420 rEESIDENT LINCOLN o ADMINiISTKATION. 

huve been rendered, and damages awarded by Admiralty Courts, and 
in other cases, wliere tliis Government may be acknowledged to be 
liable in principle, and where the amount of that Uability has been 
ascertained by an informal arbitration, the proper officers of the Treas- 
ury have deemed themselves required by the law of the United States 
upon the subject, to demand a tax upon the incomes of foreign Con- 
suls in this country. "While such a demand may not, in strictness, be 
in derogation of public law, or perhaps of any existing treaty between 
the United States and a foreign country, the expediency of so far modi- 
fying the act as to exempt from tax the income of such consuls as are 
not citizens of the United States, derived from the emoluments of their 
office, or from property not situate in the United States, is submitted to 
your serious consideration. I make tliis suggestion upon the ground 
that a comity which ought to be reciprocated exempts our Consuls in aU 
other countries from taxation to tlie extent thus indicated. The United 
States, I think, ought not to be exceptionably illiberal to international 
trade and commerce. 

The operations of llie Treasury during the last year have been suc- 
cessfully conducted. The enactment by Congress of a National Banking 
Law has proved a valuable support of the public credit, and the general 
legislation in relation to loans has fully answered- the expectation of its 
favorers. Some amendments may be required to perfect existing laws, 
but no change in their principles or general scope is beheved to be 
needed. Since these measures have been in operation, aU demands on 
the Treasury, including the pay of the Army and Xavy, have been 
promptly met and 'Tully satisfied. No considerable body of troops, it is 
believed, were ever more amply provided and more liberally and 
punctually paid ; and, it may be added, that by no people were the 
burdens incident to a great war more cheerfully borne. 

The receipts during the year, from all sources, including loans 
and the balance in the Treasury at its commencement, were $901,12;"),- 
674 86, and the aggregate disbursements $895,796,630 65, leaving a 
balance on the 1st of July, 1863, of $5,329,044 21. Of the receipts, 
there were derived from Customs $69,059,642 40; from Internal Re- 
venue, $37,640,787 95; from direct tax, $1,485,103 61; from lands, 
$167,617 17 J from miscellaneous sources, $3,046,615 35; and from 
loans, $776,682,361 57, making the aggregate $901,125,674 86. Of 
the disbursements there were for the civil service $23,253,922 08; 
for pensions and Indians, $4,216,520 79; for interest on public debt, 
$24,729,846 51; for the War Department, $599,298,600 83; for the 



THE PRESIDENT S MESSAGE. 421 

Navy Department, $G3,211,105 27 ; for payment of funded and tempo- 
rary debt, $181,086,635 07, making the aggregate $895,796,630 65, 
and leaving the balance of $5,329,041 21. 

But the payment of the funded and temporary debt, having beea 
made from moueys borrowed during tlie year, must be regarded as 
merely nominal payments, and the moneys borrowed to malie them as 
merely nominal receipts; and their amount, $181,086,535 07, should 
therefore be deducted both from receipts and disbursements. This being 
done, there remains, as actual receipts, $720,039,039 79, and the actual 
disbursements $714,709,995 58, leaving the balance as already stated. 

The actual receipts and disbursements for the tirst quarter, and the 
estimated receipts and disbursements for the remaining three quarters 
of the current fiscal year, 1864, wUl be shown in detail by the report of 
the Secretary of tlio Treasury, to which I invite your attention. 

It is suITioient to say here, tiaat it is not believed that actual results 
will exhibit a state of the finances less favorable to the country than the 
estimates of that officer heretofore submitted, while it is confidently ex- 
pected tliat, at the close of the j^ear, both disbursements and debt will 
be fpund very considerably less than has been anticipated. 

The report of the Secretary of War is a document of great interest. 
It consists of: 

First. — The military operations of the year detailed in tlie report of 
the General-in-Chief. 

Second. — The organization of colored persons into the war service. 
Tliird. — The exchange of prisoners fully set forth in the letter of 
General Hitchcock. 

Fourth. — The operations under the act for enrolling and caUiug out the 
Nationiil forces, detailed in the report of tlie Provost-Marshal General. 
Fifth. — The organization of the Invalid Corps. And — 
Sixth. — The operations of the several departments of the Quarter- 
master-General, Commissary-General, Paymaster-General, Chief of En- 
gineers, Chief of Ordnance, and Surgeon-General. It has appeared im- 
possible to make a valuable summary of this report, except such as 
would be too extended for this place, and hence I content myself by 
asking your careful attention to the report itself. The duties devolving 
on the naval branch of the service during the year, and throughout the 
wliole of this unhappy contest, have been discharged with fidelity and 
eminent success. The extensive blockade has been constantly increas- 
ing in efficiency, as tlie navy has expanded, yet on bo long a line it 
has, so far, been impossible entirely to suppress illicit trade. Prom 



422 I'REsiDEXT Lincoln's administration. 

returns received at the Navy Department, it appears that more than 
one thousand vessels have been captured since the blockade was in- 
stituted, and that the value of prizes already sent in for adjudica- 
tion, amount to over thirteen millions of dollars. 

The naval force of the United States consists at this time of five hun- 
dred and eighty-eight ves.sels completed and in the course of comple- 
tion, and of these seventy-five are iron-clad or armored steamers. The 
events of the vi^ar give an increased interest and importance to the 
navy, which will probably extend beyond the war itself. The armored 
vessels in our navy, completed and in service, or which are under con- 
tract and approaching completion, are believed to exceed in number 
those of any othe.-- Power ; but while these may be relied upon for har- 
bor defence and coast service, others of greater strength and capacity 
will be necessary for cruising purposes, and to maintain our rightful 
position on the ocean. 

The cliange that has taken place in naval vessels and naval ^\'urfa^o 
since the introduction of steam as a motive power for ships of war, de- 
mands either a corresponding change in some of our existing Navy- 
yards, or the establishment of new ones, for the construction and 
necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No inconsiderable embar- 
rassment, delay, and public injury, have been experienced from the 
want of such governmental estabUshments. 

The necessity of such a Navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable 
])lace upon the Atlantic seaboard, has, on repealed occasions, been 
brought to the attention of Congress by the Navy Department, and is 
again presented in the report of the Secretary, which accompanies this 
communication. I tliink it my duty to invite your special attention to 
this subject, and also to that of establishing a yard and depot for naval 
purposes upon one of the Western rivers. A naval force has been 
created on these interior waters, and under many disadvantages, within 
a little more than two years, exceeding in number the whole naval force 
of the country at the commencement of the present Administration. 
Satisf;ictory and important as have been the performances of the 
heroic men of t!ie navy at this interesting period, they are scarcely 
more wonderful than the success of our mcclianics and artisans in 
the production of war-vessels, which has created a new form of naval 
power. 

Our country has advantages superior to any other nation in our re- 
sources of iron and tunber, with inexhaustible quantities of fuel in the im- 
mediate vicinity of both, and all available and in close proximity to navi- 



THE president's MESSAGE. 423 

gable waters. Without the advantage of public works, the resources of 
the nation have been developed, and its power displayed, in the construc- 
tion of a navy of such magnitude, which has at the very period of its cre- 
ation rendered signal service to the Union. 

The increase of the number of seamen in the public service from 
7,500 men in the Spring of ISGl, to about 34,000 at the present time, 
has been accomplished without special legislation or extraordinary 
bounties to promote that increase. It has been found, however, that the 
operation of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army recruits, is 
beginning to affect injuriously the naval service, and Mill, if not cor- 
rected, be likely to impair its efficiency by detaching seamen from their 
proper vocation, and inducing them to enter the army. I therefore re- 
spectfully suggest that Congress might aid both the army and naval 
service by a definite provision on this subject, which would at the same 
time be equitable to the communities more especially interested. 

I commend to your consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of 
the Navy, in regard to the policy of fostering and training seamen, and 
also the education of officers and engineers for the naval service The 
Naval Academy is rendering signal service in preparing Midshipmen for 
the highly responsible duties which in after life they will be required to 
perform. In order that the country should not be deprived of the 
proper quota of educated officers, for which legal provision has been 
made at the naval school, the vacancies caused by the neglect or 
omission to make nominations from the States in insurrection, have been 
filled by the Secretary of the Navy. The school is now more full and 
complete than at any former period, and in every respect entitled to the 
favorable consideration of Congress. 

During the last fiscal year the financial condition of the Post-office 
Department has been one of increasing prosperity, and I am gratified in 
being able to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly equalled 
the entire expenditures, the latter amounting to $11,314,206 84, and 
the former to $11,1(53,789 Sff, leaving a deficiency of but $150,417 25. 
In 1860, the year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency 
amounted to $5,656,705 49, the postal receijits for that year being 
$2,647,225 19 less than those of 1803. The decrease since 18C0 in the 
annual amount of transportation has been only about 25 per cent ; but 
the annual expenditure on account of the same has been reduced 35 per 
cent. It is manifest, therefore, that the Post-office Department may 
become self-sustaining in a few years, even with the restoration of the 
whole service. 



424 PRESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMNISTEATION. 

The international conference of postal delegates from the principal 
countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion of 
the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last, and con- 
eluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The principles established 
by the conference as best adapted to facilitate postal intercourse between 
nations, and as the basis of future postal conventions, inaugurates a 
general system of uniform international charges at reduced rates of 
postage, and cannot fail to produce beneficial results. I refer you to 
the Report of the Secretary of the Interior, which is herewith laid 
before you, for useful and varied information in relation to Public 
Lands, Indian Affairs, Patents, Pensions, and other matters of the public 
concern pertaining to his department. 

The quantity of l.nnd disposed of during the last and the first quarter 
of the present fiscal years, was three millions, eight hundred and forty- 
one thousand, five hundred and forty -nine acres, of which one hundred 
and sixty-one thousand, nine hundred and eleven acres were sold for 
cash. One milUon, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, five hundred 
and fourteen acres, were taken up under the Homestead Law, and the 
residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military bounties, for 
railroad and other purposes. It also appears that the sale of public 
lands is largely on the increase. 

It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen 
that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring 
interest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public 
lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale 
of them. This opinion has had a controlling infiuence in shaping 
legislation upon the subject of our national domain. I may cite, as 
evidence of this, the liberal measures adopted In reference to actual 
settlers, the grant to the States of the overflowed lands within their 
limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation, 
the grants to railway companies of alternate sections of land upon the 
contemplated lines of their roads, which, when completed, will so 
largely multiply the facilities for reaching our distant possessions. This 
policj' has received its most signal and beneficent illustration in the 
recent enactment granting homesteads to actual settlers. Since the 
first day of January last the before mentioned quantity of one million 
four hundred and lifty-six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres 
of land have been taken up under its provisions. This fact, and the 
amount of sales, furnish gratifying evidence of increasing settlement 
upon the public lands, notwithstaiidiug the great struggle in which the 



THE president's MESSAGE. 425 

energies of the nation have been engaged, and which has required so 
large a withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits. I 
cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, 
suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those engaged in the 
military and naval service of the United States. 

I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as 
will, without essentially changing the general features of the system, 
secure to the greatest practical extent its benefits to those who have 
left their homes in defence of the country in this arduous crisis. 

I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary as to the propriety 
of raising, by appropriate legislation, a revenue from the mineral lands 
of the United States. The measures provided at your last session for 
the removal of certain Indian tribes have been carried into efiect. 
Sundry treaties have been negotiated, which will, in due time, be sub- 
mitted for the constitutional action of the Senate. They contain stipu- 
lations for extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to large 
and valuable tracts of lands. It is hoped that the efi"ect of these 
treaties will result in the establishment of permanent friendly relations 
with such of these tribes as have been brought into frequent and 
bloody collision with our outlying settlements and emigrants. Sound 
policy, and our imperative duty to these wards of the Government, 
demand our anxious and constant attention to their material well-being, 
to their progress in the arts of civilization, and, above all, to that moral 
training which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, will confer 
upon them the elevated and sanctifying influences, the hopes and con- 
solations of the Christian Mth. I suggested in my last Annual Message 
the propriety of remodelling our Indian system. Subsequent events 
have satisfied me of its necessity. The details set forth in the report 
of the Secretary evince the urgent need for immediate legislative action. 

I commend the benevolent institutions, established or patronized by 
the government in this District, to your generous and fostering care. 

The attention of Congress, during the last session, was engaged to 
some extent with a proposition for enlarging the water communication 
between the Mississippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which 
proposition, however, failed for the time. Since then, upon a call of the 
greatest respectability, a Convention has been held at Chicago upon 
the same subject, a summary of whose views is contained iu a Memorial 
Address to the President and Congress, and which I now have the 
honor to lay before you. That the interest is one which wiU ere long 
force its own way I do not entertain a doubt, while it is subaiitted 



426 PREdiDEXT Lincoln's administeation. 

entirely to your wisdom as to what can be done now. Augmented 
interest is given to this subject by the actual commencement of work 
upon the Pacific railroad, under ausjjices so favorable to rapid progress 
and completion. The enlarged navigation becomes a palpable need to 
the great road. 

I transmit the second annual report of the Commissioners of the 
Department of Agriculture, asking your attenntion to the developments 
in tliat vital interest of the nation. 

"VVheu Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted 
nearly twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on both land 
and sea, with varying results ; the rebellion had been pressed back 
into reduced limits ; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home 
and abroad, was not satisfactory. "With other signs, the popular elec- 
tions then just past indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid 
much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from 
Europe were uttered in accents of pity that we were too bhnd to sur- 
render a hopeless cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few 
vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, and we were 
threatened with such additions from the same quarters as would sweep 
our trade from the seas and raise our blockade. We had failed to 
elicit from European governments any thing hopeful upon this subject. 

The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued in September, was 
running its assigned period to the beginning of the new year. A month 
later, the final proclamation came, including the announcement that col- 
ored men of suitable condition would be received in the war service. 
The poUcy of emancipation and of employing black soldiers gave to the 
future a new aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in 
uncertain conflict. According to our political system, as a matter of 
civil administration the Government had no lawful power to effect 
emancipation in any State, and for a long time it had been hoped that 
the rebellion could be suppressed without resorting to it as a mihtary 
measure. It was all tlio while deemed possible that the necessity for it 
might come, and that if it should, the crisis of the contest would then 
be presented. It came, and, as was anticipated, was followed by dark 
and doubtful days. 

Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take an- 
other review. The rebel borders are pressed stQl further back, and by 
the complete opening of the Mississippi, the country dominated by the 
rebellion is divided into distinct parts with no practical communication 
between tliem. Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially 



THE PEESIDEJST S MESSAGE. 427 

cleared of insurgent control, and influential citizens in each — owners of 
slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the rebellion — now 
declare openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those 
States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland and 
Missouri, neither of which three years ago would tolerate any restraint 
upon the extension of slavery into new Territories, only dispute now as 
to the best modo of removing it within their own limits. 

Of thuse who were slaves at the beginning of the rebellion, fuU one 
hundred thousand are now in the United States military service, about 
one-half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks — thus giving 
the double advantage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause 
and supplying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many 
white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good 
soldiers as any. No servUe insurrection or tendency to violence or 
cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and arming the blacks. 
These measures have been much discussed in foreign countries, and, 
cotemporary with such discussion, the tone of pubhc sentiment there is 
much improved. At homo the same measures have been fuUy discuss- 
ed, supported, criticised and denounced, and the annual elections follow- 
ing are highly encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the 
country tlirough this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. 
The crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past. 

Looking now to the present and future, and witli a reference to a 
resumption of the National authority, in the States wherein that author- 
ity has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a proclamation — a 
copy of which js herewith transmitted. On examination of this procla- 
mation, it will appear, as is believed, that nothing is attempted beyond 
what is amply justified by the Constitution. True, the form of an oath 
is given, but no man is coerced to take it. The man is only promised a 
pardon in case he voluntarily takes the oath. The Constitution author- 
izes the Executive to grant or withdraw the pardon at his own abso- 
lute discretion, and this includes the power to grant on terms, as is fuUy 
established by judicial and other authorities. It is also proffered that 
if in any of the States named a State Government shall be in the mode 
prescribed set up, such government shall be recognized and guaranteed 
by the United States, and that under it the State shall, on tlie constitu- 
tional conditions, be protected against invasion and domestic violence. 

The constitutional obligation of the United States to guarantee to 
every State in the Union a Republican form of Government, and to 
protect the Stale in the cases stated, is expUcit and fuU. But why ten- 



428 PKESiDEXT Lincoln's admixisteation^. 

der the benefits of this proviyon only to a State Government set up in 
this particular way? This section of the Constitution conteniplates a 
case wherein the element within a State favorable to Republican gov- 
ernment in the Union may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile ele- 
ment external to or even within the State, and such are precisely the 
cases with wiiich we are now deahng. 

An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State Government, 
constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the very element 
against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply ab- 
surd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing elements, 
BO as to build only from the sound ; and that test is a sufficiently liberal 
one which accepts as sound whoever will make a sworn recantation of 
his former unsoundness. 

But if it be proper to require, as a test of admission to the political body, 
an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to the 
Union under it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard to 
slavery ? 

Those laws and proclamations were ei;acted and put forth for the 
pu4-pose of aiding in the suppression of the rebellion. To give them 
their fullest effect there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. In 
my judgment they have aided and wUl further aid the cause for which 
they were intended. 

To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of 
power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faith. 

I may add, at this point, that while I remain in my present position, I 
shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emanciijation Proclamation, 
nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of 
that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress. 

For these and other reasons, it is thought best that support of these 
measures shall bo included in the oath, and it is believed that the Exec- 
utive may lawfully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of for- 
feited rights, which he has a clear constitutional power to withhold al- 
together or grant upon the terms which he shall deem wisest for the 
public interest. It should be observed, also, that this part of the oath 
is s-ubject to the modifying and abrogating power of legislation and 
supreme judicial decision. 

The proposed acquiescence of the National Executive in any reason- 
able temporary State arrangement for the freed people, is made with 
the view of possibly modifying the confusion and destitution which 
must at best atteixl all classes by a total revolution of labor throughout 



THE PROCLAMATION OF AMKESTY. 429 

whole States. It is hoped that the ah'eady deeply afflicted people 
in those States may be somewhat more ready to give up the cause of 
their affliction, if, to this extent, tliis vital matter be left to themselves, 
while no power of the National Executive to prevent an abuse la 
abridged by the proposition. 

The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the pohtical 
frame work of the States on what is called reconstruction, is made in 
the hope that it may do good, without danger of harm. It will save la- 
bor, and avoid great confusion. But why any proclamation now upon 
this subject ? This question is beset with the couflicting views that the 
step might be delayed too long, or be taken too soon. In some States 
the elements for resumption seem ready for action but remain inactive, 
apparently for want of a rallying point — a plan of action. Why shall 
A adopt the plan of B, rather than B that of A ? And if A and B should 
agree, how can they know but that the General Government here will 
reject their plan ? By the proclamation a plan is presented which may 
be accepted by them as a rallying point — and which they are assured 
in advance will not be rejected here. This may bring them to act 
sooner than they otherwise would. 

The objection to a premature presentation of a plan by the National 
Executive consists in the danger of committals on points which could 
be more safely left to further developments. Care has been taken to so 
shape the document as to avoid embarrassments from this source. 
Saying that on certain terms certam classes will be pardoned with rights 
restored, it is not said that other classes or other terms will never be 
included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted if presented in a 
specified way, it is not said it will never be accepted in any other way. 
The movements by State action for emancipation in several of the States 
not included in the Emancipation Proclamation are matters of profound 
gratulation. And while I do not repeat in detail what I have heretofore 
so earnestly urged upon this subject, my general views and feehngs re- 
main unchanged ; and I trust that Congress will omit no fair opportuni- 
ty of aiding these important steps to the great consummation. 

la the midst of other cares, however important, we must not lose sight 
of the fact that the war power is still our main reliance To that power 
alone can we look for a time, to give confidence to the people in the con- 
tested regions, that the insurgent power will not again overrun them. 
Until that confidence shall be established, little can be done anywhere 
for what is called reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must still be 
directed to the army and navy, who have thus far borne their harder 



430 TRESIDEXT LIXCOLX S AD1MIXISTRATI0N-. 

part so nobly and well. And it may be esteemed fortunate that in giv- 
ing the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms, we do also hon- 
orably recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who com- 
pose them, and to whom, more than to others, the world must stand in- 
debted for the home of freedom, disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged 
and perpetuated. ^ 

(Signed) Apraham Lincoln. 

Decemler 8, 1863. 

The following proclamation is appended to the mes- 



PROCLAMATION 

Whereas, In and by the Constitution of the United States, it is pro- 
vided that the President shall have power to grant reprieves and par- 
dons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeach- 
ment — and, whereas, a rebellion now exists, whereby the loyal State 
Governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, 
and many persons have committed and are now guilty of treason against 
the United States: and 

Wliercas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have 
been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of 
property and Hberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions 
therein stated, and also declaring that the President was thereby au- 
thorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons 
who may have participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part 
thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times 
and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public wel- 
fare; and 

Whereas, The Congressional declaration for limited and conditional 
pardon accords with the well-established judicial exposition of the par- 
doning power ; and 

Wliereas, With reference to the said rebellion, the President of the 
United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in re- 
gard to the liberation of slaves ; and 

Whereas, It is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in 
said rebeUion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and 
to reinaugurate loyal State Governments within and for their respec- 
tive States; therefore 



THE PROCLAMATION OF AMNESTY. 431 

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, de- 
clare and make known to all persons who have directly or by implicatioa 
participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that 
a full pardon is Iiereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration 
of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where 
rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that 
every such person shall take and subscribe an oath and thenceforward 
keep and maintain said oath inviolate, an oath which shall be registered 
for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect follow- 
ing, to wit : 



" I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, 

that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Consti- 
tution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder: and 
that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of 
Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, 
so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress 
or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner 
abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made 
during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so 
far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. 
So help me God." 

The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions 
are : All who are, or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents 
of the so-called Confederate Government ; all who have left judicial 
stations under the United States to aid the rebellion ; all who are, or 
shall have been miUtary or naval officers of said so-called Confederate 
Government, above the rank of Colonel in the army, or of Lieutenant in 
the navy ; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the 
rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the army or navy of the 
United States, and afterward aided the rebellion; and all who have en- 
gaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in 
charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which 
persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, 
seamen, or any other capacity ; and I do further proclaim, declare and 
make known that, whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South 
Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons not less than one- 
tenth in number of the votes cast in such States at the Presidential elec- 
tion of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each 
having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since viola cerl it, 



432 PRESIDENT LIKCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

and being a qualified voter by the election law of the State existing im- 
mediately before the so-called act of Secession, and excluding all others, 
shall re-establish a State Government which shall be Republican, and 
in no wise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true 
government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the ben- 
efits of the constituiional provision, which declares that 



" The United States shall guarantee to every State iu this Union a 
Republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against 
invasion, and on aj'plication of the Legislature, or the Executive, when 
the Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence." 



And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that any provi- 
sion which may be adopted by such State Government iu relation to 
the freed people of such State, which shall recognize and declare their 
permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be 
consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition as 
a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the 
National Executive, 

And it is suggested as not improper that, in constructing a loyal State 
Government in any State, the name of the State, the boundary, the 
subdivisions, the Constitution, and the general code 'of laws, as before 
the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the modifications made 
necessary by the conditions herein before stated, and such otlicrs, if 
any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expe- 
dient by those framing the new State Government. To avoid misunder- 
standing, it may be proper to say that this proclamation, so far as it 
relates to State Governments, has no reference to States wherein loyal 
State Governments have all the while been maintained ; an^ for the 
same reason it may be proper to further say, that whether members 
sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seat.s, constitution- 
ally rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent 
with the Executive. And stiU further, that this proclamation is 
intended to present the people of the States wherein the national 
authority has been suspended, and loyal State Governments have been 
subverted, a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal 
State Governments may be re-established witliin said States, or in any 
of them. And, while the mode presented is the best the Executive can 
suggest with his present impressions, it must not be understood that no 
other possible mode would be acceptable. 



EXPLAXATORT PROCLAMATION. 433 

Given under my hand at the city of "Wasliington, tlie eig:hth day of Do- 
cembpr, a. d. ono tliousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of tlie 
iudei>endence of the United States of America the Eighty-eighth. 

By tlie President : Abraham Lixcoln. 

"Wm. H. Sewakd, Secretary of State. 

In further pros'ecntion of the object sought by this measure 
of amnesty, the President subsequently issued the following 
additional explanatory Proclamation : 

By the Pixsident of the United States of America : 
Wherca.s, it haa tecome necessary to define the cases in which insur- 
gent enemies are entitled to the benefits of the Proclamation of the 
President of the United States, which was made on the 8th day of De- 
cember, 1863, and the manner in which they shall proceed to avail 
themselves of these benefits ; and whereas the objects of that proclama- 
tion were to suppress the insurrection and to restore the authority of 
the United States- and whereas the amnesty therein proposed by the 
President was offered with reference to these objects alone* 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincolx, President of the United States, 
do hereby proclaim aaid declare that the said proclamation does not 
apply to the cases of persons who, at th« time when they seek to obtaia 
the benefits thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed, are in mili- 
tary,' naval or civil confinement or custody, or under bonds, or on parole 
of the civil, military or naval authorities, or agents of the United States, 
as prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either 
before or after conviction; and that on the contrary it does apply only 
to those persons who, beiug yet at large, and free from any arrest, con- 
finement, or duress, shall voluntarily come forward and take the said 
oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and establishing the national 
authority. 

Persons excluded from the amnesty oflFered in the said proclamation 
may apply to the President for clemency, like all other ofl'enders, and 
their application will receive due consideration. 

I do further declare and proclaim that the oath presented in the 
aforesaid prodamation of the 8th of December, 1863, may be taken and 
subscribed before any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in 
the service of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a 
State or Territory not in insurrection, who, by the laws thereof may be 
qualified for administering oaths. 
19 



434 rnrsiDEXT lixcoln s admixistratiox. 

All officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized to give 
certificates tliercof to the persons respectively by whom they are made, 
and such officers are hereby required to transmit the original records of 
Buch oaths at as early a day as may be convenient, to the Department 
of State, where they will be deposited, and remam in the archives of 
the Government. 

The Secretary of State will keep a registry thereof, and will, on 
application, in proper cases, issue certificates of such records in the 
customary form of of&cial certificates. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Wnsh- 

[l. s.] ington, the 26th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1864, 
and of the independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth. 
By the President : Abraham Lincoln. 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

The action of CoTigross at this se<^sion has not been of special 
interest or iinportancc. Public attention continued to be ab- 
sorbed by military operations, and Congress, at its previous 
session, had so fully provided for the emergencies, present and 
prospective, of the war, that little in this direction remained 
to be done. Resolutions were introduced by members of the 
opposing parties, some approving and others condemning the 
policy of the Administration. Attempts were made to amend 
the conscription bill, but the two houses failing to agree on 
some of the more important changes proposed, the bill, as 
finally passed, did not vary essentially from the original law. 
The leading topic of discussion in this connection was the em- 
ployment of colored men, free and slave, as soldiers. The 
policy of thus emploving them had been previously established . 
by the action of the Government in all departments; and all 
that remained was to regulate the mode of their enlistment. 
A proviso was finally adopted by both houses that colored 
troops, " while they shall be credited in the quotas of the sev- 
eral States or subdivisions of States wherein they are respect- 
ively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned 



DEBATE OK" SLAVERY. 435 

as State troops, but sluill be mustered into regiments or com- 
panies as 'United States Colored Volunteers.'" 

The general tone of the debates in Congress indicates tlie 
growing conviction on the part of the people of the whole 
country, without regard to party distinctions, that the destruc- 
tion of slavery is inseparable from the victorious prosecution 
of the war. Men of all parties have acquiesced in the position 
that the days of slavery are numbered, — that the rebellion, or- 
ganized for the purpose of strengthening it, has placed it at the 
mercy of the national force, and compelled the Government to 
assail its existence as the only means of subduing the rebellion 
and preserving the Union. The certainty that the prosecution 
of the war must result in the emancipation of the slaves, has 
led to the proposal of measures suited to this emergency. On 
the 6th of February, a bill was reported in the House for the 
establishment of a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, which should 
determine all questions relating to persons of African descent, 
and make regulations for their employment and proper treat- 
ment on abandoned plantations ; and after a sharp and dis- 
cursive debate, it was passed by a vote of 69 to 67. A reso- 
lution has also been adopted to submit to the action of 
the several States, an amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, prohibiting the existence of slavery with- 
in the States and Territories of the Union forever. This prop- 
osition has encountered but little opposition. The experience 
of the last three years has left but little inclination in any 
quarter to prolong the existence of slavery, and the political 
necessities which formerly gave it strength and protection, have 
ceased to exist. At the commencement of the session resolu- 
tions were offered by several members in both Houses, aiming 
at its prohibition by such an amendment of the Constitution. 
This mode of accomplishing the object sought was held to be 
free from the objections to which every other is exposed, as it 
is unquestionably competent for the people to amend the Con- 



436 PKESIDENT LINCOLI^'S ADMIXISTHATIOX. 

stitutioii, in accordance with the forms prescribed by its own 
provisions. One or two Southern senators, Mr, Saulsbury, of 
Delaware, and Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, being prominent, have 
urged that it is a palpable violation of State rights for the 
people thus to interfere with any thing which State laws de- 
clare to be property; but they were answered by Reverdy 
Johnson, of Maryland, who urged that when the Constitution 
was originally framed this prohibition of slavery might unques- 
tionably have been embodied in it, and that it was competent 
for the people to do now whatever they might have done then. 

A bill was passed in both Houses restoring the grade of 
Lieutenant-General, and, on the nomination of the President, 
General Grant was appointed by the Senate to that office, and 
invested with the command of the armies of the United States. 

Toward the close of the year, as the terms of service of 
many of the volunteer forces were about to expire, the Presi- 
dent issued a proclamation for 300,000 volunteers. The mili- 
tary successes of the season had raised the public courage and 
inspired new confidence in the final issue of the contest for the 
preservation of the Union ; it was believed, therefore, that an 
appeal for volunteers would be responded to with alacrity, and 
save the necessity for a resort to another draft. The procla- 
mation was as follows : 

A PROCLAMATION 

By the President of the United States. 

Wliereas, the term of service of part of the volunteer forces of the 
United States will expire during the coming year; and, whereas, in ad- 
dition to tlie men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to 
call out three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or 
during the war, not, however, exceeding three years; Now, therefore, 
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and Commander- 
in-Chief of the army and navy thereof, and of the miUtia of the several 
States when called into actual service, do issue this my proclamation, 
calling upon the Governors of the different States to raise, and have 



CALL FOR TROOPS. 437 

enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and 
regiments in the field from their respective States, the quotas of three 
hundred thousand men. 

I further proclaim that all the volunteers thus called out and duly- 
enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore 
communicated to the Governors of States by the War Department 
tlirough the Provost-Marshal General's office, by special letters. 

I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well 
as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited and deducted 
from the quotas established for the next draft. 

I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota as- 
signed to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the 
deficiency in said quota shall be made in said State, or on the districts 
of said State for their due proportion of said quota, and the said draft 
shall commence on the 5th day of January, 18G4. 

And I further jsroclaim that nothing in this proclamation shall inter- 
fere with existing orders, or with those which may be issued for the 
present draft in the States where it is now in progress, or where it has 
not yet been commenced. 

The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War 
Department through the Provost-Marshal General's office, due regard 
being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or 
drafting ; and the recruiting wiU be conducted in accordance with such 
instructions as have been or may be issued by that Department. 

In issuing this proclamation, I address myself not only to the Gover- 
nors of the sevei'al States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, 
invoking them to lend their cheerful, willing, and effective aid to the 
measures thus adopted, with a view to re-enforce our victorious army 
now in the field, and bring our needful military operations to a prosper- 
ous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil war. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Wasliington, this 17th day of October, 

[l. s.] 1863, and of the independence of th« United States the eighty- 
eighth. 

By the President : Abraham Lixcoln. 

Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

By the act of 1861 for raising troops, a government bounty 
of one hundred dollars was paid to each volunteer ; and this 



438 PKESIDENT LINCOLN S ADillNISTEATION. 

amount had beeu increased from time to time until each soldier 
who had already filled his term of sei-vice was entitled to re- 
ceive four hundred dollars on re-enlisting, and eacli new^volun- 
teer three hundred. After the President's proclamation was 
issued, enlistments, especially of men already in the service, 
proceeded with great rapidity, and the amount to be paid for 
bounties threatened to be very large. Under these circum- 
stances, Congress adopted an amendment to the enrolment 
act, by which the payment of all bounties except those author- 
ized by the act of 1861, was to cease after the oth day of Jan- 
uary. Both the Secretary of War and the Provost-Mai'shal 
General feared that the effect of this, when it came to be gen- 
erally understood, would be to check the volunteering which 
was then proceeding in a very satisfactory manner; and on 
the 5th of January, the day when the prohibition was to take 
etfect, the President sent to Congress the following communi- 
cation : 

■Washington, January 5, 18G4. 
Gentlemen of the Senate and Rouse of Rqyresentatives : 

By a joint resolution of your honorable bodies, approved December 
23, 1863, the paying of bounties to veteran volunteers, as now practised 
by the War Department, is, to the extent of three hundred dollars iu 
each case, prohibited after the fifth day of the present month. I trans- 
mit for your consideration a communication from the Secretary of War, 
accompanied by one from the Provost- Marshal General to him, both 
relating to the subject above mentioned. I earnestly recommend that 
this law be so modified as to allow bounties to be paid as they now are, 
at least to the ensuing 1st day of February. I am not without anxiety 
lost I appear to be importunate in thus recalling your attention to a sub- 
ject upon which you have so recently acted, and nothing but a deep 
conviction that the public interest demands it could induce me to incur 
the hazard of being misunderstood on this point. The executive ap- 
proval was given by me to the resolution mentioned, and it is now by 
a closer attention and a fuller knowledge of facts that I feel constrained 
to recommend a reconsideration of tho subject. 

A. Lincoln. 



GEX. BLAIk's EESIGXATION". 439 

A resolution extending the payment of bounties, in accord- 
ance with this recommendation, to the 1st of April, was at 
once reported bv the MiUtary Committee of the Senate, and 
passed by botli Houses of Congress. 

The action of Congress thus far during the session has re- 
lated mainly to questions connected with taxation and the cur- 
rency, and does not call for detailed mention in this connec- 
tion. Considerable time has been consumed, and a good deal 
of ill-feeling created, by a controversy between General F. P. 
Blair, junior, of Missouri, whose seat in Congress is contested, 
and other members of the Missouri delegation. General Blair 
was accused by one of his colleagues of very discreditable 
transactions in granting permits to trade within the limits of 
his department, from which he was, however, completely ex- 
onerated by the investigations of a Committee of the House. 
After this matter was closed. General Blair resigned his seat in 
the House and returned to his post in the army. The House, 
by resolution, called upon the Pi-esident for information as to 
the cii'cumstances of his restoration to command, and received 
on the 28th of April the following in reply : 
To the House of Representatives : — 

In obedience to the resolution of jour honorable body, a copy of which 
is herewith returned, I have the honor to make the following brief state- 
ment, which is believed to contain the information sought. 

Prior to and at the meeting of the present Congress, Robert C. 
Schenck, of Oliio, and Frank P. Blair, Jr., of Missouri, members elect 
thereto, by and with the eonaent of the Senate, held commissions from 
the Executive as Major-Generals in the volunteer army. General 
Schenck tendered the resignation of his said commission, and took 
his seat in the House of Represettatives, at the assembling thereof, 
upon the distinct verbal understanding with the Secretary of War and 
the Executive that he might at any time during the session, at his own 
pleasure, withdraw said resignation and return to the field. 

General Blair- was, by temporary agreement of General Slierman, 
in command of a corps through the battles in front of Chattanooga, 
and in marching to the relief of Knoxville, wliich occurred in the 



440 TEESIDENT LINCOLN S ADMINISTEATION. 

latter days of December last, and of course was not present at the aa- 
sembling of Congress. When he subsequently arrived here be sought 
and was allowed by the Secretary of War and the Executive the same 
conditions and promise as was allowed and made to General Schenck. 

General Schenck has not apphed to withdraw his resignation ; but 
when General Grant was made Lieutenant-General, producing some 
changes of commanders, General Blair sought to be assigned to the 
command of a corps. This was made known to General Grant and 
General Sherman, and assented to by them, and the particular corps for 
him was designated. This was all an-anged and understood, as now re- 
membered, so much as a month ago ; but the formal withdrawal of 
General Blair's resignation, and the reissuing of the order assigning him 
to the command of a corps, were not consmnmated at the War Depart- 
ment until last week, perhaps on the 23d of April instant As a sum- 
mary of the whole it may be stated that General Blair holds no military 
commission or appointment other than as herein stated, and that it is 
believed he is now acting as Major-General upon tlie assumed validity 
of the commis.9iou heroin stated and not otherwise. 

There are some letters, notes, telegrams, orders, entries, and perhaps 
other documents, in connection with this subject, which it is behoved 
would throw no additional light upon it, but wiiich will be cheerfully 
furnished if desired. Abbaham Lixcoln. 

Ajn-il 28, 1864. 

On the same day the President sent to Congress the follow- 
ing Message, which sufficiently explains itself: 
To the Honorable Senate and House of Hepj-esentatives : — 

I have the honor to transmit herewith an address to the President of 
the United States, and through him to both Houses of Congress, on the 
condition of the people of East Tennessee, and asking their attention to 
the necessity for some action on the part of the government for their re- 
lief, and which address is presented by the Committee or Organization, 
called " The East Tennessee Relief Association." Deeply commisera- 
ting the condition of those most loyal people, I am unprepared to make 
any specific recommendation for their reUef. The military is doing, and 
will continue to do, the best for them within its pov/er. Their address 
represents that the construction of a direct railroad communication 
between Knoxville and Cincinnati, by way of Central Kentucky, would 
be of great consequence in the present emergency. It may be remem- 
bered that m my annual Message of December, 1861, such railroad con- 



DIPLOAIATIC C'ORKESPONDENCE. 441 

struction was recommeuded. I now add that, with the hearty coucur- 
rence of Congress, I would yet be pleased to construct the road, both 
for the relief of those people and for its continuing military importance. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

The diplomatic correspon Jeiice of the year 1863, which was 
transmitted to Congress witli the President's Message, was 
vohiminous and interesting. But it touched few points of 
general interest, relating mainly to matters of detail in the 
relations between the United States and foreign powers. One 
point of importance was gained in the course of our correspond- 
ence with Great Britain, — the issuing of an order by that 
Government forbidding the departure of formidable rams 
which were building in English ports unquestionably for the 
Rebel service. Our minister in London had been unwearied 
in collecting evidence of the purpose and destination of these 
vessels and in pressing upon the British Government the ab- 
solute necessity, if they wished to preserve peaceful relations 
with the United States, of not permitting their professedly 
neutral ports to be used as naval depots and dock-yards for 
the service of the rebels. On the oth of September, 1863, 
Mr. Adams had written to Lord Russell, acknowledging the 
receipt of a letter from him in which the deliberate purpose of 
the British Government to take no action in regard to these 
rams was announced. Mr. Adams had expressed his regret at 
such a decision, which he said he could regard as no other- 
wise than as practically opening to the insurgents free liberty 
in Great Britain to prepare for entering and destroying any of 
the Atlantic seaports of the United States. " It would be 
superfluous in me," added Mr. Adams, " to point out to your 
lordship that this is war. No matter what may be the theory 
adopted of neutrality in a struggle, when this process is carried 
on in the manner indicated, from a territory aud with the aid 
of the subjects of a third party, that third party to all intents 
aud purposes ceases to be neutral. Neither is it necessary to 



442 PRESIDEXT LIXCOLn's ADMIXISTRATIOX. 

show, that any Government which suffers it to be done, fails 
in enforcing the essential conditions of international aunty to- 
wards the country against whom the hostility is directed. In 
ray belief it is impossible that any nation, retaining a proper 
degree of self-respect, could tamely submit to a continuance 
of relations so utterly deficient in reciprocity. I have no idea 
that Great Britain would do so for a moment." On the 8th 
of vSeptember Earl Russell wrote to Mr. Adams, to inform him 
that " instructions had been issued which would prevent the 
departure of the two iron-clad vessels from Liverpool." The 
Earl afterwards explained in Parliament, however, when charged 
with having taken this action under an implied menace of 
war conveyed in the letter of Mr. Adams, that it was taken in 
pursuance of a decision which had been made previous to the 
receipt of that letter and in ignorance of its existence. 

On the lllh of July Mr. Seward forwarded a dispatch to 
Mr. Adams, elicited by the decision of the British Court in 
the case of the Alexandra, which had been seized on suspicion 
of having been fitted out in violation of the laws of Great Bri- 
tain against the enlistment of troops to serve against nations 
with which that government was at peace. Tiie decision was 
a virtual repeal of the enlistment act as a penal measure of 
prevention, and actually left the agents of the Rebels at full 
liberty to prepare ships of war in English ports to cruise 
against the commerce of the United States. Mr. Seward con- 
veyed to Mr. Adams the President's views on the extraordinary 
state of afRiirs which this decision revealed. Assuming that 
the British Government had acted throughout in perfect good 
faith and that the action of its judicial tribunals was not to be 
impeached, this dispatch stated that " if the rulings of the 
Cliief Baron of the Exchequer in the case of the Alexandra 
should be affirmed by the Court of last resort, so as to regu- 
late the action of Her Majesty's Government, the President 
would be left to understand that there is no law in Great 



OUR RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND. 443 

Britain which will be eflective to preserve mutual relations of 
forbearance between the subjects of her Majesty and the Gov- 
ernment and people of the United States in the only point 
where they are exposed to infraction. And the United States 
will be without any guarantee whatever against the indiscrimi- 
nate and unlawful employment of capital, industry and skill 
by British subjects, in building, arming, equipping, and send- 
ing forth ships-of-war from British ports to make war against 
the United States." The suggestion was made whether it 
would not be wise for Parliament to amend a law thus proved 
to bQ inadequate to the purpose for which it was intended. If 
the law must be left without amendment and be construed by 
the Government in conformity with the rulings in this case 
then, said Mr. Seward, "there will be left for the United States 
no alternative but to protect themselves and their commerce 
against armed cruisers proceeding from British ports as against 
the naval forces of a public enemy ; and also to claim and in- 
sist upon indemnities for the injuries which all such expeditions 
have hitherto committed or shall hereafter commit against 
this Government and the citizens of the United States." " Can 
it be an occasion for either surprise or complaint," asked Mr. 
wSeward, " that if this condition of things is to remain and re- 
ceive the deliberate sanction of the British Government, the 
navy of the United States will receive instructions to pursue 
these enemies into the ports which thus, in violation of the 
law of nations and the obligations of neutrality, become har- 
bors for the pirates V Before the receipt of this dispatch, Mr. 
Adams had so clearly presented the same views, of the inevi- 
table results of the policy the British Government seemed to 
be pursuing, to Lord Russell, as to render its transmission to 
him unnecessary, — Mr. Seward, on the 13th of August, in- 
forming Mr, Adams that he regarded his " previous commu- 
nications to Earl Kussell on the subject as an execution of his 
instructions by way of auticipation." 



44-t PRESIDENT LIXCOLK's ADMINISTRATION. 

Our relations with France coutinued to be friendly ; bat 
the proceedings of the French in Mexico gave rise to repre- 
sentations on both sides which may have permanent impor- 
tance for the welfare of both countries. Rumors were circu- 
lated from time to time in France that the government of the 
United States had protested, or was about to protest, against 
the introduction into Mexico of a monarchical form of govern- 
ment, under a European prince, to be established and sup- 
ported by French arms : and these reports derived a good 
deal of plausibility from the language of the American press, 
representing the undoubted sentiment of a very large portion 
of the American people. Various incidental conversations 
were had on this subject during the summer of 1863 between 
Mr. Dayton, our Minister in Paris, and the French Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, in which tlie latter uniformly assured Mr. 
Dayton that France had no thought of conquering Mexico or 
establishing there a dominant and permanent power. She 
desired simply to enforce the payment of just claims and to 
vindicate her honor. In a conversation reported by Mr, 
Dayton in a letter dated August 21, M. Drouyn de I'Huys 
" took occasion again to say that France had no purpose in 
Mexico other than heretofore stated, — that she did not mean 
to appropriate permanently any part of that country, and that 
she should leave it as soon as her griefs were satisfied, and she 
could do so with honor." "In the abandon of a conversation 
somewhat familiar," adds Mr. Dayton, ''I took occasion to 
say that in quitting Mexico she might leave a piippet behind 
her. He said no ; the strings would be too lonri to work. He 
added that they had had enough of colonial experience in 
Algeria : that the strength of France was in her compact body 
and well-defined boundary. In that condition she had her 
resources always at command." 

iu a dispatch dated September 14, Mr. Dayton reports a 
conversation in which the French Afinister referred to the 



FRANCE AND MEXICO. 445 

"almost universal report that our government only awaits tlie 
termination of our domestic troubles to drive the French out 
of Mexico." He said that the French naturally conclude that, 
if they are to have trouble with us, it would be safest to take 
their 'own time; and he assured M. Drouyn de I'Huys that 
" relying on the constant assurances of France as to its pur- 
poses in Mexico, and its determination to leave the people 
free as to their form of government, and not to hold or colo- 
nize any portion of their territories," our government had indi- 
cated no purpose to interfere in the quarrel, not concealing at 
the same time our earnest solicitude for the well-being of that 
country, and an especial sensitiveness as to any foicible inter- 
ference in the form of its government. 

On the 21st of September Mr. Seward instructed Mr. Day- 
ton to call the attention of the French Minister to the appar- 
ent deviations of the French in Mexico from the tenor of the 
assurances uniformly given by the French government that 
they did not intend permanent occupation of that country, 
or any violence to the sovereignty of its people. And on the 
26th of the same month Mr. Seward set forth at some length 
the -position of our government upon this question, which is 
mainly embodied in the following extract : — 

The United States hold, in regard to Mexico, the same principles 
that they hold in regard to all other nations. They have neither a 
right nor a disposition to intervene by force in the internal affairs of 
Mexico, whether to establish and maintain a republic or even a domes- 
tic government there, or to overthrow an imperial or a foreign one, if 
Mexico chooses to establish or accept it. The United States have 
neither the right nor the disposition to intervene by force on either side 
in tlie lamentable war which is going on between France and Mexico. 
On the contrary, they practise in regard to Mexico, in every phase of 
that war, the non-intervention which they require all foreign powers to 
observe in regard to the United States. But notwithstanding this self- 
restraint, this government knows full well that the inherent normal 
opinion of Mexico favors a government there rcpul)lican in form and 



446 PKKSIDE:!fT LIXCOLN S ADiilNISTKATION, 

domestic in its organizaiion in preference to any monarchical institutions 
to be imposed from abroad. Tiiis government knows also that this nor- 
mal opinion of the people of Mexico resulted largely from the influence 
of popular opi:iion in this country, and is continually in\igorated by it. 
The President believes, moreover, that this popular opinion of the 
United States is just in itself and eminently essential to the progress of 
civilization on the American continent, which civilization, it believes, 
can and will, if left free from European resistance, work harmoniously 
together with advancing refinement on the other continents. This gov- 
ernment believes that foreign resistance, or attempts to control Ameri- 
can civilization, must and will fail before the ceaseless and ever increas- 
ing activity of material, moral, and political forces, which pecidiarly 
belong to the American continent. Nor do the United States deny 
that, in their opinion, their own safety and the cheerful destiny to 
wliich they aspire are intimately dependent on the continuance of free 
republican institutions throughout America. They have submitted 
these opinions to the Emperor of France, on proper occasions, as wor- 
thy of his serious consideration, in determining how he would conduct 
and closo what might prove a successful war in Mexico. Xor is it 
necessary to practise reserve upon the pomt that if France should, 
upon due consideration, determine to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse 
to the American opinion and sentiments which I have described, that 
policy would probably scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies 
wlaich might ultimately ripen into collision between France and the 
United States and other American republics. . . . The statements 
made to you by M. Drouyn de I'Huys concerning the Emperors inten- 
tions are entirely satisfactory, if we are permitted to assume them as 
having been authorized to be made by the Emperor in view of the 
present condition of affairs in Mexico. 

The French ^linistcr, in a conversation on the 8th of Octo- 
ber, stated to Mr, Dayton that the vote of the entire popula- 
tion of Mexico, Spanish and Indian, would be taken as to the 
form of government to be established, and he had no doubt a 
large majority of that vote would be in favor of the Archduke 
Maximilian. lie also expressed a desire that the United 
States would express its acquiescence in such a result, and its 
readiness to enter into peaceful relations witli such a govern- 



THE TEESIDENT AND THE MONROE DOCTRIXE. 447 

ment, by acknowledging it as speedily as possible, — inasmuch 
as such a course would enable France the sooner to leave 
Mexico and tiie new government to take care of itself. lu 
replying to this request, on the 23d of October Mr. Seward 
repeated the determination of our government to maintain a 
position of complete neutrality in the war between France and 
.Mexico, and declared that while they could not anticipate the 
action of the people of Mexico, they had not " the least pur- 
pose or desire to interfere with their proceedings, or control 
or interfere with their free choice, or disturb them in the 
exercise of whatever institutions of government they may, in 
the exercise of an absolute freedom, establish." As we did 
not consider the war yet closed, however, we Avere not at 
liberty to consider the question of recognizing the govern- 
ment which, in the further chances of that war, might take 
the place of the one now existing in Mexico, with which our 
relations were those of peace and friendship. 

The policy of the President, therefore, in regard to the war 
in Mexico has been that of neutrality ; and, although this 
policy has in some respects contravened the traditional pur- 
poses and principles of the government and people of the 
United States, it is not easy to see what other could have been 
adopted without inviting hazards which no responsible states- 
man has a right to incur. The war against Mexico was under- 
taken ostensibly for objects and purposes which we were com- 
pelled to regard as legitimate, and we could not ourselves depart 
from a strict neutrality without virtually conceding the right, 
not only of France but of every other nation interested in our 
downfall, to become party to the war against us. While 
we have to a certain extent pledged ourselves to hold the 
whole continent open to republican institutions, our first duty 
is clearly to preserve the existence of our own Republic, not 
only for ourselves, but as the only condition on which repub- 
licanism anywhere is possible. The President, therefore, in 



448 piiEsiDENT Lincoln's admixistkation, 

holding this country wholly aloof from the war with France, has 
consulted the ulthnate and permanent interests of Democratic 
institutions not less than the safety and welfare of the United 
States, and has pursued the only policy at all compatible with 
the preservation of our Union and the final establishment of 
the Monroe doctrine. Neither the President nor the people, 
however, have indicated any purpose to acquiesce in the im- 
position of a foreign prince upon the Mexican people by for- 
eign armies; and on the 3d of April, 1864, the House of Rep- 
resentatives adopted the following resolution upon the subject, 
which embodies, beyond all doubt, the settled sentiment of 
the people of tliis country. 

THE MEXICAN MONARCHY. 

Resolved, That the Congress of the United States are unwilliug hj 
silence to leave tlie nations of the world under the impression that 
thoy are indifferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpir- 
ing in the Eepublic of Mexico ; therefore, they think it fit to declare 
that it does not accord « ith the sentiment of the people of the United 
States to acknowledge a monarchical government erected on the ruins 
of any republican government in America, under the auspices of any 
European Power. 

No action up to the present time (May 5) has been taken 
upon this resolution in the Senate. 



THE QUESTION OP EECONSTEtTCTION. 449 



CHAPTER XII. 

MOVEMENTS TOWARDS RECONSTEUCTION. THE REBELLION AND 

LABOR. THE PRESIDENT ON BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 

ADVANCING ACTION CONCERNING THE NEGRO RACE. 

The Proclamation, which accompanied the Annual Message 
of the President, embodied the first suggestions of the a<l- 
rainistration on the important subject of reconstructing the 
governments of those States, which had joined in the seces- 
sion movement. The matter had been canvassed somewhat 
extensively by the public press, and by prominent politicians, 
in anticipation of the overthrow of the rebellion, and the view 
taken of the subject had been determined, to a very consider- 
able extent, by the sentiments and opinions of the different 
parties as to the object and purpose of the war. The support- 
ers of the administration did not all hold precisely the same 
ground on this subject. As has already been seen, in the de 
bates of the Congress of 1862-3, a considerable number of 
the friends of the government, in both houses, maintained 
that, by the act of secession, the revolted States had put them- 
selves outside the pale of the Constitution, and were hence- 
forth to be regarded and treated, not as members of the Union, 
but as alien enemies :* — that their State organizations and 

* President Lincoln's view of this position is stated in the following 
note addressed by him to the publishers of the North American Review, 
which contained an article upon his policy of administration : 

" Executive Mansion, "WASmxGTON, January 16, 1864. 
" Messrs. Crosby & Nichols : 

"Gentlemen: — The number for this month and year of the Xorth 
American Revvno was duly received, and for which please accept my 
thanks. Of course I am not the most impartial judge ; yet, witJi due 



450 PREsiDEXT Lincoln's ADMnsfiSTRAxiox. . 

State boundaries had been expunged by their own act ; and that 
they were to be re-admitted to the jurisdiction of the Con- 
stitution, and to the privileges of the Union, only upon such 
terms and conditions as the Federal government of the loyal 
States might prescribe. On the other hand it was held that 
the acts of secession, passed by the several State governments, 
were absolutely null and void, and that while the persons who 
passed them, and those who aided in giving them etfect, by 
taking up arms against the United States, had rendered them- 
selves liable individually to the penalties of treason, they 
had not, in any respect, changed the relations of their States, 

allowance for this, I venture to hope that the article entitled ' The 
President's Policy' wiU be of value to tlie country. I fear I am not 
worthy of all which is therein kindly said of me personally. 

" The sentence of twelve lines, commeuciug at llie top of page 252, 
I could wish to be not exactly what it is. In what is there expressed, 
the writer has not correctly understood me. I have never had a theory 
that secession could absolve States or people from their obligations. Pre- 
cisely the contrary is asserted in the inaugural address ; and it was 
because of my belief in the continuation of those obligations that I was 
puzzled, for a time, as to denying the legal rights of those citizens who 
remained individually innocent of treason or rebellion. But I mean no 
more now than to merely call attention to this point. 

"Tours respectfully, 

" A. Lincoln." 

The sentence referred to by Mr. Lincoln is as follows : 

" Even so long ago as when Mr. Lincoln, not yet convinced of 
the danger and magnitude of the crisis, was endeavoring to persuade 
himself of Union majorities at the South, and carry on a war that was 
lialf peace, in the ho[)e of a peace tliat would liave been all war, while 
he was still enforcing the Fugitive Slave law, under some theor\' that 
secession, however it might absolve States from their obligations, could 
not escheat them of their claims under the Constitution, and that slave- 
holders in rebellion had alone among mortals, the privilege of having 
their cake and eating it at the same time. — the enemies of free govern- 
ment were striving to persuade the people that the war was an abolition 
crusade. To rebel without reason was proclaimed as one of the rights 
of man, while it was carefully kept out of sight that to suppress rebel- 
lion is-the first duty of government." 



THE PKESIBEXt's VIEWS OF RECONSTKUCTION. 451 

as such, to the federal government. The governments of those 
States had been for a time subverted : — but they might at any 
time be re-established upon a republican basis, under the au- 
thority and protection of the United States. The Proclama- 
tion proceeded, in the main, upon the latter theory. The 
President had the power, under the Constitution, and by spe- 
cific legislation of Congress, to grant pardons upon such con- 
ditions as he might deem expedient. In the exercise of this 
power. President Lin^coln released from legal penalties, and 
restored to the rights of citizenship all, in each- State, with 
certain specified exceptions, who should take and abide by a 
prescribed oath ; and then he proclaimed his purpose to re- 
cognize them as the citizens of such State, and as alone com- 
petent to organize and carry on the local government; and 
he pledged the power of the general government to protect 
such republican State governments as they might establish, 
" against invasion, and against domestic violence." By 
way of precaution against a usurpation of power by strangers, 
he insisted on the same qualifications for voting as had been 
required by the Constitution and laws of the State previous 
to secession : — and to provide against usurpation of power 
by an insignificant minority, he also required that the new 
government should be elected by at least one tenth a-^ many 
voters as had voted in the State at the Presidential election 
of 1860. In the oath, which he imposed as essential to citi- 
zenship, the President required a pledge to sustain the Con- 
stitution of the United States, the laws of Congress and the 
Executive Proclamations and acts on the subject of slavery, so 
long and so far as the same should not be declared invalid and 
of no binding obligation, by the Supreme Court of the United 
States. These were the foundations of the broad and substan- 
tial basis laid by the President for the restoration of the Union, 
and the re-establishment of loyal republicau governments in 
the sevei-al seceded States. 



452 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

Various indications in the Southern Statos, had satisfied 
the President that the time had come when the work of re- 
construction might safely and wisely be thus commenced. In 
Tennessee, where the rebels had never maintained any perma- 
nent foothold, but where the government at Washington had 
found it necessary to commit the local authority to Andrew 
Johnson, as Provisional Governor, there had been a very 
strong party in favor of restoring the State to its former posi- 
tion as a member of the Federal Union. But in Louisiana, 
the movements in the same direction had been earlier and 
more decided than in any other Southern State. The occu- 
pation of Xew Orleans by the national forces, and the advent 
of General Butler as Commander of that Military Department, 
on the 1st of May, 1862, speedily satisfied a very consider- 
able portion of the inhabitants, who had property at stake in 
the City and State, that the rebel authority could never be 
restored; and preparations were accordingly made to hold an 
election in the fall of that year for Members of the Congress 
of the United States. General Shepley had been appointed 
Military Governor of the State, and to him the President, iu 
November, addressed the followmg letter on that subject : 

Executive Mansiox, Washington, November 21, 18G2. 

Deak Sir : — Dr. Kennedy, bearer of this, bus some apprehension that 
Federal officers, not citizens of Louisiana, may be set up as candidates 
for Congress in that State. In my view there could be no possible object 
in such an election. We do not particularly need members of Congress 
fr om those States to enable us to get aloug with legislation here. What 
we do want is the conclusive evidence that respectable citizens of Louisi- 
ana are willing to be members of Congress and to swear support to the 
Constitution, and that other respectable citizens there are willing to vote 
for them and send them. To send a parcel of Northern men here as re- 
presentatives, elected as would be understood (and perhaps really so), at 
the point of the bayonet, would be disgraceful and outrageous; and were 
I a member of Congress here, I would vote against admitting any such 
man to a seat. Yours, very truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

Hou. G. F. Sheplet. 



INITIAL MOVE^fENTS IN LOUISIANA. 453 

The election was held, and Messrs. Flanders and II;i,lin 
were chosen and admitted to their seats at the ensuing ses- 
sion, as has been already seen. 

On the 23d of May, 1863, the various Union associations 
of Now Orleans applied to the Military Governor of the State 
for authority to call a Convention of the loyal citizens of 
Louisiana, for the purpose of framing a new State Constitution, 
and of re-establishing civil government under the Constitution 
of the United States. What they especially desired of him 
was that he should order a registration of the loyal voters of 
the State, and appoint commissioners of registration in each 
parish to register the names of all citizens who should take 
the oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, 
and repudiate allegiance to the Rebel Confederacy. General 
Shepley, in reply, recognized fully the great importance of 
the proposed movement, but thought it of the utmost conse- 
quence that it should proceed as the spontaneous act of the 
people of the State, without the slightest appearance or 
suspicion of having been in any degree the result of military 
dictation. He consented to provide for the registi-ation of 
such voters as might voluntarily coiBe forward for the purpose 
of being enrolled, but deferred action upon the other points 
submitted to him until he could receive definite instructions 
on the subject from the Government at Washington. 

In June, a Committee of Planters, recognizing the propriety 
of some movement for the re-establishment of civil authority 
in the State, and not concurring in the policy of those who 
proposed to form a new Constitution, applied to the President, 
asking him to grant a full recognition of the rights of the State 
as they existed before the act of secession, so that they might 
return to their allegiance under the old Constitution of the 
State, and that he would order an election for State officers, 
to be held on the 1st Monday of November. 



454 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

To this application the President made the following reply : 

Executive Mansion, "Washington, June 19, 1863. 

Gentlemen: — Since receiving your letter, reliable information has 
reached me that a respectable portion of the Louisiana people desire to 
amend their State Constitution, and contemplate holding a Convention 
For that object. This fact alone, it seems to me, is a sufficient reason 
why the General Government should not give the committee the authority 
you seek to act under the existing State Constitution. I may add, that 
while I do not perceive how such a committee could facilitate our mili- 
tary operations in Louisiana, I really apprehend it might be so used as to 
embarrass them. 

As to an election to be held in November, there is abundant time with- 
out any order or proclamation from me just now. The people of Louisi- 
ana shall not lack an opportunity for a fair election for both Federal and 
State officers by want of any thing within my power to give them. 

Tour obedient sei-vant, A. Lincoln. 

After the appearance of the President's proclamation, the 
movement towards reconstruction in Louisiana assumed greater 
consistency, and was carried forward with greater steadiness 
and strength. On the 8th of January a very large Free State 
convention was held at New Orleans, at which resolutions 
were adopted indorsing all the acts and proclamations of the 
President, and urging the immediate adoption of measures for 
the restoration of the State to its old place in the Union. On 
the 11th, General Banks issued a proclamation, appointing an 
election for State officers on the 22d of February, who were 
to be installed on the 4th of March, and another election for 
delegates to a convention to revise the Constitution of the 
State on the first Monday in April. The old Constitution and 
laws of Louisiana were to be observed, except so far as they 
relate to Slavery, " which," said General Banks, " betng incon- 
sistent with the present condition of public affairs, and plainly 
inapplicable to any class of persons within the limits of the 
State, must be suspended, and they are now declared inopera- 
tive and void." The oath of allegiance required by the Presi- 
dent in his proclamation, with the condition affixed to the 



ELECTIONS IX I.OUISIAjSTA AND ARKANSAS 455 

elective franchise by tbe Constitution of Louisiana, was pre- 
scribed as constituting tbe qualification of voters. 

Under tbis order, parlies were organized for tbe election of 
State officers. Tbe friends of tbe national government were 
divided, and two candidates wore put in nomination for gov- 
erner, Hon. Michael Habn being the regular nominee, and 
representing tbe supporters of tbe policy of tbe President, and 
Hon. B. F. Flanders being put in nomination by those who 
desired a more radical policy than the President bad proposed. 
Both took very decided ground against tbe continued existence 
of slavery within the State. Hon. C. Roselius was nominated 
by that portion of tbe people who concurr(*d in the wish for 
tbe return of Louisiana to tbe Union, and were willing to take 
the oath of allegiance prescribed by the President, but who 
nevertheless disapproved of tbe general policy of the Adminis- 
tration, especially on the subject of slavery. The election re- 
sulted in tbe election of Mr. Habn. 

In Arkansas, where a decided Union feeling has existed 
from tbe outbreak of the rebellion, the appearance of tbe 
proclamation was tbe signal for a movement to bring tbe State 
back into the Union. On tbe 20tb of January, a delegation 
of citizens from that State had an interview with tbe Presi- 
dent, in which they urged tbe adoption of certain measures 
for the re-establisbraent of a legal State government, and 
especially the ordering of an election for governor. In con- 
sequence of tbis application, and in substantial compliance 
with their request, the President wrote the following letter 
to General Steele, who commanded in that Department : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Jan. 20, 1864. 
Major-Gencral Steele : 

Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me ttiat an election 
may be held in that State, at which to elect a governor ; that it be as- 
sumed at that election and thenceforward, that the Constitution and laws 
of the State, a-s before the rebellion, are in full force, except that the Con- 
stitution is so modified as to declare that there shall be neither slavery 



456 PEEsiDENT Lincoln's administration. 

Dor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment of crimes w^hereof 
tlio party shall have been duly convicted ; that the General Assembly may 
make such provisions for the freed people as shall recognize and declare 
their permanent freedom, and provide for their education, and which may 
yet be construed as a temporary arrangement suitable to their condition 
as a laboring, landless, and homeless class ; that said election shall be 
held on the 28th of JIarch, 18G4, at all the usual places of the Slate, or all 
such as voters may attend for that puii:)ose; that the voters attending at 
8 o'clock in the morning of said day may choose judges and clerks of 
election for such purpose ; that all persons qualified by said Constitution 
and laws, and taking the oath presented in the President's proclamation 
of December 8, 18G3, either before or at the election, and none others, 
may be voters ; that each set of judges and clerks may make returns di- 
rectly to you on or before the — th day of next ; that in all other 

respects said election may be conducted according to said Constitution 
and laws; that on receipt of said returns, when 5,406 votes sliall have 
been east, you can receive said votes and ascertain all M^ho shall tliereby 

appear to have been elected ; that on the — th day of next, all 

persons so appearing to have been elected, who shall appear before you 
at Little Rock, and take the oath, to be by you severally administered, 
to support the Constitution of the United States, and said modified Con- 
stitution of the State of Arkansas, may be declared by you qualified and 
empowez'cd to immediately enter upon the duties of the offices to which 
they shall have been respectively elected. 

You will please order an election to take place on the 28th of March, 
1864, and returns to be made in fifteen days thereafter. 

A. Lincoln. 

Upon the return of the delcjgation to Arkansas, they issued 
an address to tlie people of the State, urging them to avail 
themselves of the opportunity thus aftbrded for restoring their 
State to its old prosperity, and assuring them, from personal 
observation, that the people of the Northern States would 
most cordially welcome their return to the Union. Meantime 
H convention had assembled at Little Rock, composed of 
delegates elected without any formality, and not under the 
authority of the General Government, and proceeded to form 
a new State Constitution. Upon learning this fact, the Presi- 
dent wrote the following letter to one of the most prominent 
members : 



THE EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA. 457 

To William Fishback : 

When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas, I did it in ignorance 
that your convention was at the same work. Since I learned the latter 
fact, I have been constantly trying to yield ray plan to theirs. 1 have 
sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four dispatches to you and 
others, saying that he (General Steele) must be master, but that it will 
probably be best for him to keep the convention on its own plan. Some 
single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement on any thing ; 
and General Steele, commanding the military and being on the ground, 
is the best man to be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing 
me to postpone the election to a later day than either fixed by the con- 
vention or me. This discord must be silenced. A. Lincoln. 

The Convention framed a Constitution abolishing Slaver}', 
which was subsequently adopted by a large majority of the 
people. 

The military movements of the year ISG-t thus far call for no 
special notice in this place. Three enterprises of considera- 
ble magnitude have been undertaken, but neither of them was 
attended with results of any great importance. 

As early as the 15th of December, 18G3, Gen. Gillmore, 
commanding the Department of the South, applied to the 
Government for permission to send an expedition into Flori- 
da, for the purpose of cutting off supplies of the enemy ; 
and in January, in urging the matter still further upon the 
attention of Gen. Halleck, he suggested that measures might 
be also inaugurated for restoring the State of Florida to her 
allegiance under the terms of the President's Proclamation. 
Gen. Gillmore was authorized to take such action in the mat- 
ter as he should deem proper, — and he accordingly organized 
an expedition, which left Port Royal on the oth of February, 
under General Seymour, and was followed soon afterwards by 
General Gillmore himself — to whom, on the 13th of January, 
the President had addressed the following letter : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Jan. 13, 18&i. 
Major-General Gillmore : 

I understand an effort is being made by some worthy gentlemen to 
20 



458 PKESIDENT LINCOLN S ADJIIXISTRATIOX. 

reconstruct a legal State goverament in Florida. Florida is in your 
department, and it is not unlikely you may be there in person. I Lave 
given Mr. Hay a commission of Major, and sent him to you, with some 
blank books and other blanks, to aid in the reconstruction. He will ex- 
plain as to the manner of using the blanks, and also my general views on 
the subject. It is desirable for all to co-operate, but if irreconcilable 
differences of opinion shall arise, you are master. I wish the thing done 
in the most speedy way, so that when done it be within the range of the 
late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will, of course, have 
to be done by others ; but I will be greatly obliged if you will give it 
such general supervision as you can find consistent with your more 
strictly military duties. 

Abkaham Lincoln. 



The advance portion of the expedition reached Jacksonville 
on the 8th of February. Gen. Gillraore returned to Port Royal 
on the 16th, leaving the command of the expedition to Gen, 
Seymour. The first operations were successful. Near 
Jacksonville one hundred prisoners, with eight pieces of ser- 
viceable artillery, fell into our hands, and expeditions were 
pushed forward into the interior, by which large amounts 
of stores and supplies were destroyed. On the l7th General 
Seymour, with 5,000 men, was on the Florida Central Rail- 
road, about forty-five miles from Jacksonville. Here they 
remained until the 20th, when the preparations for a move- 
ment toward Lake City were completed. The enemy was 
found in force, a little before reaching Lake City, at Olustee, 
a small station on the railroad. The engagement was com- 
menced between the enemy's skirmishers and our advance. 
The fire directed against our men was so hot that they were 
compelled to fall back ; then we brought two batteries to bear 
on the enemy, and our whole force became engaged with more 
than twice their number of the enemy, who occupied a strong 
position, flanked by a marsh. Again we retreated, taking 
another position ; but it was impossible to contend with a 
force so greatly superior, and, after a battle of three hours 
and a half, General Seymour retreated, leaving his dead and 



THE EXPEDITIONS OF SHERMAN AND KILPATKICK. 459 

severely wounded on the field. Five gnns were lost, and 
about a thousand men killed, wounded, and missinir. 

On the 3d of February, General Sherman, with a strong 
force, set out from Vicksburg, in light marching order, and 
moved eastward. Shortly after, a cavalry expedition, under 
General Smith, set out from Memphis, to work its way south- 
eastward, and join Sherman somewhere on the borders of 
Mississippi and Alabama. By the 18th Smith had accom- 
plished nearly one-half of his proposed march, but soon after 
found the enemy concentrated in superior force in his way. 
Finding it impossible to proceed, he fell back, destroying the 
bridges on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad in his retreat. 
There was continual skirmishing, but no decisive battle during 
the retreat, which lasted until the 25th, when the expedition 
accomplished its return to Memphis. Much damage was done 
to the enemy by the destruction of property, but the main 
object of making a junction with Sherman failed. Sherman 
went as far east as Meridian, almost on the borders of Missis- 
sippi and Alabama, and after destroying large quantities of 
the rebel stores, and breaking their means of communication, 
he returned to Vicksburg. 

The other enterprise to whicli reference is made above, was 
a raid upon Richmond, made by a large cavalry force under 
General Kilpatrick. Leaving his camp on the 28th of Feb- 
ruary, he crossed the Rapidan, gained the rear of Lee's army 
without being discovered, and pushed rapidly on in the direc- 
tion of Richmond. A detachment under Colonel Dahlgren 
was sent from the main body to Frederick's Hall, on the 
Virginia Central Railroad. The road was torn up for some 
distance, and then the James River Canal was struck, and six 
grist-mills destroyed, which formed one of the main sources 
of supply for the Confederate army. Several locks on the 
canal were destroyed, and other damage done. Dahlgren's 
main body then pressed onward toward Richmond, and came 



4G0 PEESIDEXT LIXCOLN's ADMIXISTRATIOX. 

within three miles of the city, when, encountering a Confed- 
erate force, it was compelled to withdraw, Dahlgren. himself 
being killed, and a large part of his force captured. Kil- 
patrick, meanwhile, pressed onward to Spottsylvania Court- 
House, and thence to Beaver Dam, near where the two lines 
of railway from Richmond, those running to Gordonsville and 
Fredericksburg, cross. Here the railway was torn up, and the 
telegraphic line cut, and the cavalry pushed straight on toward 
Richmond. They reached the outer line of fortifications at 
a little past ten on the morning of the 1st of March, about 
three and a lialf miles from the city. These were fairly 
passed, and the second line, a mile nearer, was reached, and 
a desultory fire was kept up for some hours. Toward evening 
Kilpatrick withdrew,' and encamped six miles from the city. 
In the night an artillery attack was made upon the camp, and 
our troops retired still farther, and on the following morning 
took up their line of march down the Peninsula toward Wil- 
liamsburg. Several miles of railway connection of great 
importance to the enemy were interrupted, stores to the 
value of several millions of dollars were destroyed, and some 
hundreds of prisoners were captured, as the result of this 
expedition. 

The relations of the war which is carried on to maintain 
the Republican Government of the United States, against the 
efforts of the slave-holding oligarchy for its overthrow, to the 
general interests of labor, have from time to time enlisted a 
good deal of the thoughts of the President, and elicited from 
him expressions of his own sentiments on the subject. On 
the 31st of December, 1863, a very large meeting of working- 
men was held at Manchester, England, to express their opin- 
ion in regard to the war in the United States. At that meet- 
ing an address to President Lincoln was adopted, expressing 
the kindest sentiments towards this country, and declaring that, 
since it bad become evident that the destruction of Slavery 



THE PRESIDENT TO THE WORKIXGMEN OF ENGLAND. 461 

was involved in tlic overtlirow of the rebellion, their sympa- 
thies had been thoroughly and heartily with the Government 
of the United States in the prosecution of the war. This 
address was forwarded to the President through the American 
Minister in London, and elicited the following reply : 

Executive MA^*SI0N■, Wasuington, January 19, 1863. 
To tlie Working men of Manchester : 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and reso- 
lutions which you sent me on the eve of the new year. When I came 
on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election, to 
preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found 
at tlic verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or 
whosesoever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, was before me, 
namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integ- 
rity of the Federal Eepublic. A conscientious purpose to perform this 
duty, is the key to all the measures of administration which have been, 
and to all which wiU hereafter be pursued. Under our frame of govern- 
ment and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I 
would. It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or re- 
strict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that tliey may 
deem it necessary, for the public safety, from time to time to adopt. 

I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely 
with the American people. But I have at the same time been aware 
that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence 
in enlarging or prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the 
counti-y is engaged. A fair examination of history has served to author- 
ize a belief that the past actions and influences of the United States, were 
generally regarded as having been beneficial toward mankind. I have, 
therefore, reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. Circumstances — 
to some of which you kindly allude — induced me especially to expect that 
if justice and good faith should be practised by the United States, they 
would encounter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is 
now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given 
of your desire that a spirit of amity and peace toward this country may 
prevail in the councils of your Queen, who is respected and esteemed in 
your own country only more than she is by the kindred nation which 
has its home on this side of the Atlantic. 

I know, and deeply deplore the sufferings which the workingmen at 
Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in tliis crisis. It has 
been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this 
Government, which was built upon the foundation of human riglits, and 
to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of 



462 PRESIDE^TT LLXCOLn's ADMINISTRATION. 

human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the 
action of our disloyal citizens, the workingmen of Europe have been 
subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to 
that attempt. Under the circumstances, I cannot but regard your deci- 
sive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian 
heroism, which has not been surjjassed in any age or in any country. It 
is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the inherent power 
of truth, and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, 
and freedom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed 
will be sustained by your great nation, and on the other hand, i have no 
hesitation in assuring you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and 
the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. 
I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that what- 
ever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my 
own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations 
will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. 

Abraham LrscoLN. 

The workinginen of London held a simihirmeetinir at about 
the same time, and took substantially the same action. The 
President made the following response to their address : 

Executive Mansion, Feb. 2, 1863. 
To the Workingmen of London : 

I have received the New Tear's Address which you have sent me, with 
a sincere appreciation of the exalted and humane sentiments by which 
it was inspired. 

As these sentiments are manifestly the enduring support of the free 
institutions of England, so I am sure also that they constitute the only 
reliable basis for free institutions throughout the world. 

The resources, advantages, and powers of the American people are 
very great, and they have consequently succeeded to equally great respon- 
sibilities. It seems to have devolved upon them to test whether a gov- 
ernment established on the principles of human freedom, can be main- 
tained against an effort to build one upon the exclusive foundation of 
human bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new evidences which 
your proceedings furnish, that the magnanimity they are exhibiting is 
justly estimated by the true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign 
countries. 

Accept my best wishes for your individual welfare, and for the welfare 
and happiness of the whole British people. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

On the 21st of March, 1864, a committee from the Working- 
men's Association of the city of New York waited upon the 



THE PRESIDE:NT to the WORKINGMEN of new YORK. 4G3 

President and delivered an address, stating tlie general objects 
and purposes of the Association, and requesting that he ^-ould 
allow his name to be enrolled among its honorary members- 
To this address the President made the following reply : 

Gentlemen of the Committee :— The honorary membership in your 
association, as generously tendered, is gratefully accepted. 

You comprehend, as your address shows, that the existing rebellion 
means more aud tends to do more than the perpetuation of African slav- 
ery — that it is, in fact, a war upon the rights of all working people. Partly 
to show that this view has not escaped my attention, and partly that I 
cannot better express myself, I read a passage from the message to Con- 
gress in December, 1861 : ■ 

"It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not ex- 
clusively, a war upon the iirst principle of popular government, the rights 
of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave 
and maturely considered public documents, as well as in tlie general tone 
of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgement of the 
existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to par- 
ticipate in the selection of public officers, except the legislative, boldly 
advocated, with labored argument to prove that large control of the 
people in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself 
is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. 

"In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit 
raising a warning voice at::uinst- this approach of returning despotism. 

" It is not needed, nor liltniir liere, that a general argument should be 
made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point with its 
connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief at- 
tention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing, if not above 
labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is avail- 
able only in connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless some- 
body else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. 
This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital sliall 
Mre laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy 
them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so 
far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers arc either Jtired laborers, or 
what we call slaves. And, further, it is assumed that whoever is ouce a 
hired laborer, is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such 
relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such tiling 
as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both 
these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are ground- 
less. 

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, cajntal. Capital is only the 
fruit of labor, aud could never have existed if labor had not first existed. 
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higlier considera- 
tion. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any 
other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, 
a relation between capital and labor, producing mutual l>enefits. The 
error is in assuming that the whole labor of a community exists within 
that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor them- 
selves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. 
A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor 



464 PRESIDENT LISTCOLX'S ADMIXISTEATIOI^. 

have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a major- 
ity of the whole peoijle of all colors, are neither slaves nor masters ; while 
in the Northern, a lurs^e majority are neil'her hirers nor hired. Men with 
their families — wives, sons, and daughters — work for themselves, on their 
farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to 
themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired 
laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable 
number of persons mingle their own labor with capital ; that is, they 
labor Avith their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them", 
but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is 
disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. 

"Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such 
thing as the free hired "laborer being fixed to that condition for life. 
Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in 
their lives were hired laborers. The prudent penniless beginner in the 
world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with which to buy tools 
or land for himself, then labors on his Own account another while, and at 
length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and 
generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all — gives hope 
to all, and euniM(|ii' iit turiuy uud progress, and improvement of condi- 
tion to all. No nun li\ iiii^- are more worthy to be trusted than those who 
toil up from poverty— imne le^< iiieliiied to touch or take aught which 
theyhave nut luuestly earned. Let ili^iii lieware (if surrendering a polit- 
ical power they alri'aily pusses?, aiui wiiieli, if sun-eialered, will surely be 
used to close the duur uf advaiieeuKnt against sueh as they, and to fiX' 
new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost." 

The views then expressed remain unchanged, nor have I much to add. 
None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the work- 
ing people. Let them beware of prejudices, working division and hos- 
tility among themselves. The most notable feature of a disturbance in 
your city last summer was the hanging of some working people by other 
working people. It should never be so. The strongest bond of human 
sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all work- 
ing people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this 
lead to a war upon property or the owners of property. Property is the 
fruit of labor ; property is desirable ; is a positive good in the world. That 
some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is 
just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is 
houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and 
build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe 
from violence when built. 

The President bad always taken a deep interest in tlie vol- 
unteer movements of benevolent people throughout the coun- 
try, for relieving the sufferings of the sick and wounded 
among our soldiers, A meeting of one of these organizations, 
the Christian Commission, was held at Washington, on the 
22d of February, 1863, to which President Lincoln, unable 
to attend and preside, addressed the following letter : 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 465 

Executive Maxsion, February 22, 1SC3. 
Rev. Alexander Eeed : 

My Dear Sir : — Your note, by which you, as General Superintendent 
of the U. S. Christian Commission, invite me to preside at a meeting to l)o 
held this day, at the hall of the House of Representatives in this city, 
is received. 

While, for reasons which I deem sufficient, I must decline to preside, 
I cannot withhold my approval of the meeting, and its worthy objects. 
Whatever shall be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good 
of the soldiers and seamen in their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely 
fail to be blessed. And whatever shall tend to turn our thoughts from 
the unreasoning and uncharitable passions, prejudices, and jeqjousios 
incident to a great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them" on the 
vast and long-enduring consequences, for weal or for woe, which are to 
result from the struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance on 
the Supreme Being for the final triumph of the right, cannot but be 
well for us all 

The birthday of Washington and the Christian Sabbath coinciding 
this year, and suggesting together the highest interests of this life and 
of that to come, is most propitious for the meeting proposed. 

Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. 

On the 16tli of March, 1864, fit the close of a fair in 
AVashington, given at' the Patent Office, for the benefit of the 
sick and wounded soldiers of the army, President Lincoln- 
happening to be present, in response to loud and continuous 
calls, made the following remarks : 

Ladies and Gentlemen : — I appear to say liut a word. This extraor- 
dinary war in which Ave are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of peo- 
ple, but the most heavily upon the soldier. For it has been said, all that 
a man hath will he give for his life ; and while all contribute of their 
substance, the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his 
country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. 

In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested 
themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars ; and among these 
manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the 
relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in 
these fairs are the women of America. 

I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy ; I have never 
studied the art of paying compliments to women ; but I must say, that 
if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the 
20* 



466 PEESIDE>T LINCOLN'S ADMIXISTEATION, 

•n-orld in praise of women v>ere applied to the women of America, it 
would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will 
close by saying, God bless the women of America ! 

Still another occasion of a similar character occnrred at 
Baltimore on the ] 8th of April, at the opening of a Fair for 
tlie benefit of the Sanitary Commission. The President ac- 
cepted an invitation to attend the opening exercises, and made 
the following remarks : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, 
we cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many 
people assembled here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the 
Union, it occurs at once that three years ago the same soldiers could 
not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then tiU now 
is both great and gratifying. Blessings on the brave men who have 
wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them 
for it. 

But Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore. 
The change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. "Wlien 
the war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it 
would last till now. Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere to- 
day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be much 
affected by the war. But here we are ; the war has not ended, and 
slavery has been much affected — how much needs not now to be re- 
counted. So true is it that man proposes and God disposes. 

But we can see tlie past, though we may not claim to have directed 
it ; and seeing it, in this case, we feci more hopeful aud confident for the 
future. 

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and 
the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all de- 
clare for liberty ; but in using the same word we do not all mean the 
same thir.g. With soine Ihe word liberty may mean for each man to do 
as he pleases with himself, and the product of liis labor ; while with 
others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with 
other men, and the product of otber men's labor. Here are two, not 
only difforeut, but incompatible things, called by the same name, liberty. 
And it follows that eacli of the things is, by the respective parties, called 
by two difierent and incompatible names — liberty and tyranny. 



THE president's SPEECH AT BALTIMOEE. 407 

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for -which the 
sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces hira 
for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the slieep was 
a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a 
definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails 
to-day among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing 
to love liberty. Hence we beholc the process by which thousands are 
daily passing from under the y ••'"e of bondage hailed by some as the 
advance of Hberty, and bewa.-ea by others as the destruction of all 
liberty. Recently, as it seen s, the people of Maryland have been doing 
something to define liberty and thanks to them that, in what they 
have done, the wolf's dictionary has been repudiated. 

It is not very becoming for one in my position to make speeches at 
great length; but there is another subject upon which I feci that I 
ought to say a word. A painful rumor, true I fear, has reached us of 
the massacre, by the rebel forces at Fort Pillow, in the west end of 
Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, of some three hundred colored 
soldiers and white officers, who had just been overpowered by their 
assailants. There seems to be some anxiety in the pubUc mind whether 
the Government is doing its duty to the colored soldier, and to the ser- 
vice, at this point. At the beginning of the war, and for some time, 
the use of colored troops was not contemplated ; and how the change 
of purpose was wrought, I will not now take time to explain. Upon a 
clear conviction of duty, I resolved to turn that element of sti-ength to 
account; and I am responsible for it to the American people, to the 
Christian world, to history, and on my final account to God. Having 
<leterniinod to use the negro as a soldier, there is no way but to give 
him all the protection given to any other soldier. The diflBculty is not 
in stating the principle, but in practically applying it. It is a mistake 
to suppose the Government is indifferent to this matter, or is not doing 
the best it can in regard to it. "We do not to-day hnoiu that a colored 
soldier, or white officer commanding colored soldiers, has been massa- 
cred by the rebels when made a prisoner. We fear it, beheve it, I may 
say, but we do not know it. To take the life of one of their prisoners 
on the assumption that they murder ours, when it is short of certamty 
that they do murder ours, might be too serious, too cruel a mistake. 
We are having the Fort Pillow afiair thoroughly investigated; and 
such investigation will probably show conclusively how the truth is. 
If, after all that has been said, it shall turn out that there has been no 
massacre at Fort Pillow, it will be almost safe to say there has been 



4:68 PEESIDE^^T LINCOLN S ADMNISTEATION. 

none, and wiJl be none elsewhere. If there has been the 
of three hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, it will 
be conclusively proven ; and being so proven, the retribution shall as 
furcly come. It will be matter of grave consideration in what ex- 
act course to apply the retribution; but in the supposed case, it must 
come. 

It became manifest, soon after the commencement of the 
war, that its progress would inevitably have the effect of free- 
ing very many, if not all, the slaves of the Southern States. 
The President's attention was therefore directed at an early 
day to the proper disposition of those who should thus be 
freed. As his Messages show, he was strongly in favor of 
colonizing them, with their own consent, in some country 
where they could be relieved from the embarrassments oc- 
casioned by the hostile prejudices of the whites, and enter 
upon a career of their own. In consequence of his urgent 
representations upon this subject. Congress at its session of 
1862 passed an act placing at his disposal the sum of $600,000 
to be expended, in his discretion, in removing, with their own 
consent, free persons of African descent to some country 
which they might select as adapted to their condition and 
necessities. 

On the 14th of August, 1SG2, the Pre.=;ident received a 
deputation of colored persons, with whom he had an inter- 
view on the subject, of which one of the parties interested has 
made the following record : 

■Washington, Tliursday, August 14, ]862. 

This afternoon the President of the United States gave an audience 
to a Committee of colored men at the White House. They were intro- 
duced by Rev. J. Mitchell, Commissioner of Emigration. E. M. Thomas, 
the Chairman, remarked that they were there by invitation to hear 
wjiat the Executive had to say to them. 

Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary obser- 
vations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by 
Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the 



THE PRESIDENT ON COLONIZATION. 409 

colonization in some country of the people, or a portion of thorn, of 
African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time 
been his inchnation, to favor that cause ; and why, he asked, should 
the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should they 
leave this country ? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper con- 
sideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a 
broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. 
WHietjier it is right or wrong I need not discuss ; but this physical 
difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think. Tour race 
suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer 
from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is ad- 
mitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. Ton 
here are freemen, I suppose. 

A voice — Yes, Sir. 

The President — Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. 
Your race are suffering, iu my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicttd 
on any people. But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far 
removed from being placed on an equality with the white race. You 
are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. 
The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but 
on this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the 
equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, 
and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to 
present it as a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I 
would. It is a fact about which we all think and feel ahke, I and you. 
We look to our condition. Owing to the existence of the two races on 
this continent, I need not recount to you the effects upon Avhite men, 
growing out of the institution of Slavery. I believe in its general evil 
effects on the white race. See our present condition — the country 
engaged in war 1 our white men cutting one another's throats — none 
knowing how far it will extend — and then consider what we know to 
be the truth. But for your race among us there could not be war, 
although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one 
way or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, -without the institution of 
Slavery, and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have an 
existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I know 
that there are free men among you who, even if they could better their 
condition, are not as much inchned to go out of the coimtry as th<jse 
who, being slaves, could obtain their freedom on tliis condition. I sup- 
pose one of the principal diflSculties in tl;e way of colonization is that 



470 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's administration 

the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by 
it. Tou may believe that you can live in Washington, or elsewhere in 
the United States, the remainder of your hfe ; perhaps more so than 
you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the con- 
clusion that 3'ou have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign 
country. This is (I spealv in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish 
view of the case. But you ought to do something to help those who 
are not so fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwilUngness on the 
part of our people, harsh as it may be, for you free colored people to 
remain with us. Now if you could give a start to the white people 
you would open a wide door for many to be made free. If we deal 
with tliose who arc not free at the beginning, and whose intellects aro 
clouded by Slavery, we have very poor material to start with. If in- 
telligent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this matter, 
much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we havo 
men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not 
those who havo been systematically oppressed. There is much to 
encourage you. For the sake of your race you should sacrifice some- 
thing of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that 
respect as the white people. It is a cheering thought throughout life, 
that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who 
have been subject to the hard usages of the world. It is diflBcult to 
make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims 
kindred to the great God who made him. In the American Revolution- 
ary "War sacrifices were made by men engaged in it, but they were 
cheered by the future. General Washington himself endured greater 
physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject, yet he 
was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his race; 
in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his 
own. 

The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a cer- 
tain sense, it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has 
just been with me the first time I ever saw him. He says they have 
within the bounds of that colony between three and four hundred 
thousand people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode 
Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in 
some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their 
descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from 
this country. Many of the original settlers havo died, yet, like people 
elsewhere, their offspring outnumber those deceased. The question is, 



THE PRESIDENT ON COLONIZATION. 4*71 

if tho colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, vvLy not there? 
One reason for unwillingness to do so is, that some of you would ratlier 
remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know 
how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not 
strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you 
are attached to them at all events. The place I am thinking about 
having for a colony, is in Central America. It is nearer to us than 
Liberia — not much more than one-fourlh as far as Liberia, and within 
seven days' run by steamers. LTnlike Liberia, it is a great lino of 
travel — it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any 
people, and with great natural resources and advantages, and espe- 
cially because of the similarity of climate with your native soil, thus 
being suited to your physical condition. The particular place I have in 
view, is to be a great highway from the Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to 
the Pacific Ocean, and this pr.rticular place has all the advantages for a 
colony. On both sides there are harbors among the finest in the world. 
Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount of 
coal is valuable in any country, and there may be more than enough for 
1 he wants of any country. Why I attach so much importance to coal 
is, it wiU aflford an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employ- 
ment till they got ready to settle permanently in their homes. If you 
take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show ; and 
so where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make a farm. 
But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as scon 
as you reach there, it is a great advantage. Coal land is the best thing 
I know of with which to commence an enterprise. To return — you 
have been talked to upon this subject, and told that a speculation is in- 
tended by gentlemen who have an interest in the country, including tho 
coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know 
whites, as well as blacks, look to their self-interest. Unless among 
those deficient of intellect, everybody you trade with makes something. 
You meet with these things here and everywhere. If such persons 
hf>ve what will be an advantage to them, the question is, whether it 
cannot be made of advantage to you ? You are inteUigent and know 
that success does not as much depend on external help as on self reli- 
ance. Much, therefore, depends upon yourselves. As to the coal 
mines, I think I see the means available for your self-reliance. I shall, 
if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provision made that 
you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise, I will 
spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will sue- 



472 PEESIDEXT LTNCOLif's ADMLNISTEATIOX. 

ceed. The Government may lose the money, but we cannot succeed 
unless we try ; but we think with care we can succeed. The political 
affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as I 
wish. There are contending factions in that quarter; but it is true, all 
the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization, and want it, 
and are more generous than we are here. To your colored race they 
have no objection. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made equals, 
and have the best assurance that you should be the equals of the best. 
The practical thing I want to ascertain is, whether I can get a number 
of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to 
go, when I present evidence of encouragement and protection. Could 
I get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and child- 
ren, and able to "cut their own fodder," so to speak ? Can I have fifty ? 
If I could find twenty-five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and 
children — good things in the family relation, I think — I could make a 
successful commencement. I want you to let me know whether this 
can be done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. 
These are subjects of very great importance — worthy of a month's 
study, of a speech delivered in on hour. I ask you, then, to consider 
seriously, not pertaining to yourselves merely, nor for your race and ours 
for the present time, but as one of the things, if successfully managed, 
for the good of mankind — not confined to the present generation, but as 

"From age to age descends the lay 
To millions yet to be, 
Till far its echoes roll away 
Into eternity." 

The above is merely given as the substance of the President's re- 
marks. 

The chairman of the delegation briefly replied, that "they would hold 
a consultation, and in a short time give an answer." The President 
said, " Take your full time — no hurry at all." 

The delegation then withdrew. 

In pursuance of liis plans of Colonization, an agreement was 
cntercJ into, by tlie President, September 12, 1862, with 
A. W. Thompson, for the settlement, by free colored emi- 
grants from the United States, of a tract of country within 
the republic of New Grenada — the region referred to by the 



EFFOETS AT NEGRO COLOXIZATION. 473 

President in his remarks quoted above ; and tlie Hon. S. E. 
Pomeroy, a senator from Kansas, proposed to accompany and 
superintend the expedition. The sum of $25,000 was ad- 
vanced to him from the colonization fund, but it was soon 
after discovered that the Government of New Grenada objected 
to the landing of these emigrants upon its territory, and the 
project was abandoned. 

lu April, 1SC3, an agreement was made with responsible and 
highly respectable parties in New York for the colonization 
of He a Yache, within the Republic of Hayti, of which a 
favorable grant had been made by the Government — and 
which was represented in the published report of the Commis- 
sioner of Emigration in the Department of the Interior, as 
being in every way adapted to the culture of cotton and other 
tropical products, and as eminently favorable for such an ex- 
periment. The Government agreed to pny fifty dollars each 
for the removal of the consenting emigrants thither — pay- 
ment to be made on official certificate of their arrival. The 
contractors fulfilled their portion of the agreement with 
fidelity, and to the utmost extent of their ability ; but after an 
expenditure of about eighty thousand dollars, it was discovered 
that the representations of the fertility of tlie island had been 
utterly unfounded, and that the enterprise was hopeless. The 
agent of the Company, moreover, through whom the Govern- 
ment had made the original contract, proved to be utterly un- 
trustworthy and incapable, and was removed. The Govern- 
ment at last brought the negroes back to the United States, 
but incurred no additional expense, as it declined to pay the 
contractors the stipulated sum for the removal of the emi- 
grants, or to reimburse them any portion of the moneys ex- 
pended in the enterprise. 

No further experiments have been made in the matter of 
colonization ; but the disposition and employment of the 



474 PEESIDEXT LIXCOLX'S ADJIIfflSTRATION. 

tnde of tlie Government. "When the rebellion first broke out 
there were many persons who insisted upon the instant eman- 
cipation of the slaves, and their employment in arms against 
the rebels of the Southern States. Public sentiment, however, 
was by no means prepared for the adoption of such a measure. 
The Administration, upon its advent to power, was compelled to 
encounter a wide-spread distrust of its general purposes in re- 
gard to slavery, and special pains were taken by the agents 
and allies of the rebellion to alarm the sensitive apprehensions 
of the Border States upon this subject. The President, 
therefore, deemed it necessary, in order to secure that unity 
of sentiment without which united and effective action against 
the rebellion was felt to be impossible, to exclude from the 
contest all issues of a secondary nature, and to fasten the 
attention and thought of the whole country upon the para- 
mount end and aim of the war — the restoration of the Union 
and the authority of the Constitution of the United States. 
How steadily and carefully this policy was pursued, the pre- 
ceding pages of this record will show. 

But as the war went on, and the desperate tenacity of the 
rebel resistance became more manifest — as the field of opera- 
tions, both military and political, became enlarged, and the 
elements of the rebel strength were better understood, the 
necessity of dealing with the question of Slavery forced itself 
upon the people and the Government. The legislation of 
Congress, from time to time, represented and embodied these 
advancing phases of public opinion. At the extra session of 
1861 a law was passed, discharging from slavery every slave 
who should be required or permitted by his master to take up 
arms against the United States, or to be employed in any 
military capacity in the rebel service. At the next session 
the President was authorized to employ persons of African 
descent in the suppression of the rebellion, " in such manner 
as he should jndge best for the public welfare," and also to 



EMPLOYMENT OF NEGRO TROOPS. 475 

issue a proclamation coiumanding all persons in rebellion 
against the United States to lay down their arras and return 
to their allegiance ; and if any persons so warned should be 
found in rebellion thirty days after the date of such proclama- 
tion, the President was authorized to set free their slaves. 
Under these comprehensive acts the President took such steps 
on the subject as he believed the necessities of the country re- 
quired, and as the public sentiment of the country would sustain. 
The Emancipation proclamation was issued on the 1st of Jan- 
uary, 1863, and measures were adopted soon afterwards to 
provide for the changes which it made inevitable. On the 
20th of January, the Secretary of War authorized Governor 
Andrew, of Massachusetts, to enlist volunteers for three 
years, and to include persons of African descent, organized 
into a separate corps. In April negro troops were enlisted by 
Adjutant-General Thomas for service in Arkansas, and on the 
15th of that month he issued an order appointing commission- 
ers to superintend the execution of a policy which the Gov- 
ernment had adopted for committing the protection of the 
banks of the Mississippi to a negro force. On the 2 2d of 
May, orders were issued by the Secretary of War creating a 
Bureau of the War Department for all matters relating to the 
organization of colored troops, and establishing rules for their 
enlistment, and for the appointment of officers to command 
them. And, on the 20th of August, Hon. J. Holt, Judge- 
Advocate General, sent to the President an official opinion, 
to the effect that, under the laws of Congress on the subject, 
he had full authority to enlist slaves for service in the army 
precisely as he might enlist any other persons — providing for 
compensation to loyal owners whose property might thus be 
taken for the public service. 

These were the initial steps of a movement f )r the employ- 
ment of negro troops, which has gone forward steadily ever 
since, until, as has been seen from the President's Message, 



476 PEESIDEJs^T LINCOLN S ADMLNLSTEATION. 

over 100,000 negro soldiers are now in the army of the United 
States, contributing largely, by their courage and good conduct, 
to the suppression of the rebellion which seeks the perpetual 
enslavement of their race. The popular prejudice against 
their employment in the army, which was so potent at the 
beginning, has gradualh^ given way, even in the slaveholding 
States, to a more just estimate of the necessities of the emer- 
gency and the capacities of the negro race. And what is 
of still more importance to the welfare of the country, the 
people of the slaveholding States have taken up the question 
of slavery for discussion and practical action, as one" in which 
their own well-being, present and prospective, is deeply in- 
volved. The Union party in every Southern State favors the 
abolition of slavery, and in Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, and 
Arkansas, measures are already far advanced which will inevi- 
tably lead to the speedy overthrow of an institution which has 
proved so detrimental to their interests, and so menacing to the 
unity of the nation and the stability of republican institutions. 



It formed no part of the object of this work to deal in 
eulogy or in criticism of President Lincoln and his adminis- 
tration. Its purpose will have been attained if it places his 
acts and words in such a form that those who read them may 
judge for themselves of the merits and defects of the policy 
he has pursued. It has been his destiny to guide the nation 
through the stormiest period of its existence. No one of his 
predecessors, not even AVashington, encountered difBculties 
of equal magnitude, or was called to perform duties of equal 
responsibility. He was elected by a minority of the popular 
vote, and his election was regarded by a majority of the 
people as the immediate occasion, if not the cause, of civil 
war ; yet upon him devolved the necessity of carrying on that 



THE PEESIDENTS EELIAXCE OX THE PEOPLE. 477 

war, and of combining and wielding the energies of the 
nation for its successful prosecution. The task, under all the 
circumstances of the case, was one of the most gigantic that 
ever fell to the lot of the head of any nation. 

From the outset, Mr. Lincoln's reliance was upon the spirit 
and patriotism of the people. He had no overweening esti- 
mate of his own sagacity ; he was quite sensible of his lack 
of that practical knowledge of men and affairs which experi- 
ence of both alone can give ; but he had faith in the devotion 
of the people to the principles of Republican government, in 
their atta'tihment to the Constitution and the Union, and in 
that intuitive sagacity of a great community which always 
transcends the most cunning devices of individual men, and, 
in a great and perilous crisis, more resembles inspiration than 
the mere deductions of the human intellect. At the very outset 
of his administration, President Lincoln cast himself without 
reserve and without fear, upon this reliance. It has ever 
been urged against him as a reproach that he has not assumed 
to lead and control public sentiment, but has been content to 
be the exponent and the executor of its will. Possibly an 
opposite course might have succeeded, but possibly, also, it 
might have ended in disastrous and fatal failure. One thing 
is certain : the policy which he did pursue has not failed. 
The rebellion has not succeeded ; the authority of the Gov- 
ernment has not been overthrown ; no new government, rest- 
ing on slavery as its corner-stone, has yet been established 
upon this continent, nor has any foreign nation been provoked 
or permitted to throw its sword into the scale against us. A 
different policy might have done better, but it might also 
have done worse. A wise and intelligent people will hesitate 
long before they condemn an administration which has done 
well, on the mere hypothesis that another might have done 
better. 

In one respect President Lincoln has achieved a wonderful 



478 PRESIDENT Lincoln's administeation. 

success. He has maintained, througli the terrible trials of his 
administration, a reputation, with the great body of the 
people, for unsullied integrity, of purpose and of conduct, 
which even Washington did not surpass, and which no Pres- 
ident since Washington has equalled. He has had command 
of an army greater than that of any living monarch ; he has 
wielded authority less restricted than that conferred by any 
other constitutional government ; he has disbursed sums of 
money equal to the exchequer of any nation in the world ; 
yet no man, of any party, believes him in any instance to 
have aimed at his own aggrandizement, to have beeif actuated 
by personal ambition, or to have consulted any other interest 
than the welfare of his country, and the perpetuity of its 
Republican form of government. This of itself is a success 
which may well challenge universal admiration, for it is one 
which is the indispensable condition of all other forms of 
success. No man whose public integrity was open to sus- 
picion, no matter what might have been his abilities or his 
experience, could possibly have retained enough of public 
confidence to carry the country through such a contest as 
that in which we are now involved. No President suspected 
of seeking his own aggrandizement at the expense of his 
country's liberties, could ever have received such enormous 
grants of power as were essential to the successful prosecutiou 
of this war. They were lavishly and eagerly conferred upon 
Mr. Lincoln, because it was known and felt everywhere that 
he would not abuse them. Faction has had in him no mark 
for its assaults. The weapons of party spirit have recoiled 
harmlessly from the shield of his unspotted character. 

It was this unanimous confidence in the disinterested purity 
of his character, and in the perfect integrity of his public pur- 
poses, far more than any commanding intellectual ability, that 
enabled Washington to hold the faith and confidence of the 
American people steadfast for seven years, while they waged 



PEES. LINCOLXS WAY OF " TUTTIXG THINGS." 479 

the unequal war requirod to achieve their indeiicndencc. 
And it certainly is something more than a casual coincidence 
that this same element, as rare in experience as it is transcen- 
dent in importance, should have characterized the President 
upon whom devolves the duty of carrying the country through 
this second and far more important and sanguinary struggle. 

No one can read Mr. Lincoln's state papers without per- 
ceiving in them a most remarkable faculty of " putting things" 
so as to command the attention and assent of the common 
people. His style of thought as well as of expression is thor- 
oughly in harmony with their habitual modes of thinking and 
of speaking. His intellect is keen, emphatically logical in its 
action, and capable of the closest and most subtle analysis : 
and he uses language for the sole purpose of stating, in the 
clearest and simplest possible form, the precise idea he wishes 
to convey. He has no pride of intellect — not the slightest 
desire for display — no thought or purpose but that of making 
everybody und^tand precisely what he believes and means 
to utter. And while this sacrifices the graces of style, it gains 
immeasurably in practical force and effect. It gives to his 
public papers a weight an;! influence with the mass of the 
people, which no public man of this country has ever before 
attained. And this is heightened by the atmosphere of humor 
which seems to pervade his mind, and which is just a# natural 
to it and as attractive and softening a portion of it, as the 
smoky hues of Indian summer are of the charming season to 
which they belong. His nature is eminently genial, and he 
seems to be incapable of cherishing an envenomed resentment. 
And although he is easily touched by whatever is painful, the 
elasticity of his temper and his ready sense of the humorous 
break the force of anxieties and responsibilities under which 
a man of harder though perhaps a higher nature would sink 
and fail. 

One of the most perplexing questions with which Mr. Lin- 
coLN has had to deal iu carrying on the war, Inis been thai of 



480 PEESiDEXT Lincoln's administration. 

slavery. There are two classes of persons who cannot, even 
now, see that there was any thing perplexing about it, or that 
he ought to have had a moment's hesitation how to treat it. 
One, is made up of those who regard the law of slavery as 
paramount to the Constitution, and the rights of slavery as 
the most sacred of all the rights which are guaranteed by that 
instrument : the other, of those who regard the abolition of 
slavery as the one thing to be secured, whatever else may be 
lost. The former denounce Mr. Lincoln for having interfered 
with slavery in any way, for any purpose, or at any time : the 
latter denounce him, with equal bitterness, for not having 
swept it out of existence the moment Fort Sumter was at- 
tacked. In this matter, as in all others, Mr. Lincoln has acted 
u{)on a fixed principle of his own, which he has applied to the 
practical conduct of affairs just as fast as the necessities of the 
case required and as the public sentiment would sustain him 
in doing. His policy has been from the outset a tentative 
one — as, indeed, all policies of government to be successful 
must always be. On the outbreak of the rebellion the first 
endeavor of the rebels was to secure the active co-operation of 
all the slaveholding States. Mr, Lincoln's first action, there- 
fore, was to withhold as many of these States from joining 
the rebel confederacy as possible. Every one can see now 
that this policy, denounced at the time by his more zealous 
anti-slavery supporters as temporizing and inadequate, pre- 
vented Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Missouri, and part of 
Virginia from throwing their weight into the rebel scale ; and 
although it is very easy and very common to undervalue ser- 
vices to a cause after its triumph seems secure, there are few 
who will not concede that if these States had been driven or 
permitted to drift into the rebel confederacy, a successful ter- 
mination of the war would have been much farther oft' th:iii it 
seems at present. Mr. Lincoln did every thing in his power, 
consistent with fidelity to the Constitution, to retain the Bor- 
der Slave States within the Union ; and the degree of success 



THE president's POLICY ON SLAVEKY. 481 

which atteuded his etibrts is the best proof of their substantial 
wisdom. 

His treatment of the slavery question has been marked by 
the same experimental policy. The various letters by which 
from time to time he has explained the principles on which 
he was acting, in any particular emergency, show very clearly 
that he has been far more anxious to take action which should 
be sanctioned and sustained by the country, and thus be per- 
manently valuable, than to put forth any theory of his own 
or carry into effect the dogmas and opinions of any party, 
The whole case is stated with great clearness and force in a 
letter written by him on the 4th of April to Mr. Ilodges, 
who, with Governor Bramlette and some other gentlemen of 
Kentuck}', had called upon him on business relating to the 
draft, and with whom he had some conversation in regard to 
the misconceptions of his policy that seemed to be current in 
their State. That letter is as follows : 

Executive Mansion, "WAsmisGTON, April 4th, 1864. 

A. G-. Hodges, Esq., Frankfort, Ky: My dear Sir: — You ask me to 
put in writing the substance of what I verbally said the other day, in 
your presence, to Governor Bramlette and Senator DLson. It was about 
as follows: 

"I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not -wrong, nothing ia 
wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet 
I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon mo an un- 
restricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was 
in the oath I took that I would to the best of my ability preserve, pro- 
tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take 
the ofifioe without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might 
take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. I 
understood, too, that in ordinary' civil administration this oath even for- 
bade me to practically indulge my primary abstract judgment on the 
moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many tunes, and 
in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no official act 
in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery. J 
did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to 
the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every 
21 



482 PKESIDEXT LINCOLN S AOMINISTIJATION. 

indispeusable means, that government — that nation, of which that Con- 
stitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation and 
yet preserve the Constitution ? By general law, life and limb must be 
protected ; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life ; but a life 
is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, otherwise 
unconstitu-tioual, might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the 
preservation of the Constitution, through the preservation of the nation. 
Right or wrong, I assumed tliis ground, and now avow it. I could not 
feel that, to the best of my ability I had even tried to preserve the Con- 
stitution, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the 
wreck of government, country, and constitution, altogether. When, 
early in the war, General Fremont attempted military emancipation, I 
forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispensable necessity. 
When a little later. General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested 
the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an 
indispensable necessity. When, still later, General Hunter attempted 
military emancipation, I again forbade it, because I did not yet think the 
indispensable necessity had come. When in March and May, and July, 
18C2, I made earnest and successive appeals to the border States to 
favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispensable neces- 
sity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless 
averted by that measu'-e. They declined the proposition, and I was, in 
my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the 
Union, and with it. the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the 
colored clement. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater 
gain than loss, but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a 
year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in 
our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force, no loss 
by it any how, or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain of 
quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen and laborers. 
These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cavil- 
ling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the 
measure. 

" And now let any Union man who complains of the measure, test him- 
self by writing down in one line, that he is for subduing the rebellion 
by force of arms; and m the next, that he is for taking three hundred 
and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where 
they would be best for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his 
case so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth." 

- aud a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling 
this tale, I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to 



LK'rrKK TO MK. HODGES. 483 

have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled 
me. Now at the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is 
not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can 
claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the re- 
moval of a great -wrong, and wills also that wo of the North, as well aa 
you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, im- 
partial history will find therein new causes to attest and revere the 
ustice and goodness of God. Tours, truly, 

(Signed.) A. Lincoln. 

An impression is quite common that great men, who make 
their mark upon the progress of events and the world's liistory, 
do it by impressing their own opinions upon nations and com- 
munities, in disregard of their sentiments and prejudices. 
History does not sustain this view of the case. No man ever 
moulded the destiny of a nation except by making the senti- 
ment of that nation his ally — by working with it, by shaping 
his measures and his policy to its successive developments. 
But little more than a year before the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence was issued, Washington wrote to a friend in England 
that the idea of separation from Great Britain was not enter- 
tained by any considerable number of the inhabitants of the 
colonies. If independence had then been proclaimed, it would 
not have been supported by public sentiment ; and its procla- 
mation would have excited hostilities and promoted divisions 
which might have proved fatal to the cause. Time, — the de- 
velopment of events, — the ripening conviction of the necessity 
of such a measure, were indispensable as preliminary conditions 
of its success. And one of the greatest elements of Washing- 
ton's strength was the patient sagacity with which he could 
watch and wait until these conditions were fulfilled. The 
position and duty of President Lincoln in regard to Slavery 
have been very similar. If he had taken counsel only of his 
own abstract opinions and sympathies, and had proclaimed 
emancipation at the outset of the war, or had sanctioned the 
action of those department commanders who assumed to do it 



484 PKESIDENT LIIS^COLN's ADiIINISTRATI02f. 

themselves, the first effect would have been to throw all the 
Border Slave States into the bosom of the slaveholding con- 
federacy, and add their formidable force to the armies of the 
rebellion : the next result would have been to arouse the 
political opposition of the loyal States to fresh activity by 
giving them a rallying cry : and the third would have been to 
di\ide the great body of those who agreed in defending the 
Union, but who did not then agree in regard to the abolition 
of slavery. Candid men, who pay more regard to facts than 
to theory, and who can estimate with fairness the results of 
public action, will have no difficulty in seeing that the proba- 
ble result of these combined influences would have been such 
a strengthening of the forces of the Confederacy, and such a 
weakening of our own, as might have overwhelmed the Ad- 
ministration, and given the rebellion a final and a fatal triumph 
By awaiting the development of public sentiment, President 
Lincoln secured a support absolutely essential to success ; and 
there are few persons now, whatever may be their private 
opinions on slavery, who will not concede that his measures 
in regard to that subject have been adopted with sagacity and 
crowned with substantial success. 

It is too soon, we are aware, to pronounce definitively on 
the merits of President Lincoln's administration. Its policy 
is still in process of development. If it is allowed to go on 
without interruption, — if the measures which President Lin- 
coln has inaugurated for quelling the rebellion and restoring 
the Union, are permitted to work out their natural results, un- 
checked by popular impatience and sustained by public confi- 
dence, we believe they will end in re-establishing the authority 
of the Constitution, in restoring the integrity of the Union, 
in abolishing every vestige of slavery, and in perpetuating the 
principles of democratic government upon this continent and 
throughout the world. 



APPENDIX. 



LIEUT.-GEN. SCOTT AND MAJ.-GEN. McCLELLAN. 

Allusion is made on a previous page to a letter of advice 
and suggestions addressed by General McClellan to General 
Scott, which he afterwards withdrew. 

The following correspondence relates to that letter and grew 
out of it : 

GEN. SCOTT TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 

"Washdtgton, Aug. 9, 1861. 

Sir: — I received yesterday from Major-General McClellan a letter of 
that date, to which T design this as my only reply. 

Had Major-General McClellan presented the same views in person, 
they would have been fully entertained and discussed. All my military 
views and opinions had been so presented to him, without eliciting 
much remark in our few meetings which I have in vain sought to mul- 
tiply. He has stood on his guard and now places himself on record. 
Let him make the most of his unenvied advantages. 

Major-General McClellan has propagated in high quarters the idea ex- 
pressed in the letter before me, that Washington was not only "inse- 
cure," but in " imminent danger." 

Relying on our numbers, our forts, and the Potomac river, I am con- 
fident in the opposite opinion ; and considering the stream of new regi- 
ments that is pouring in upon us (before the alarm could have reached 
their homes), I have not the slightest apprehension for the safety of the 
Government here. 

Having now been unable to mount a horse, or to walk more than a 
few paces at a time, and consequently being unable to review troops — 
much less to direct them in battle : in short, broken down by many 



486 APPENDIX, 

particular hurts, besides the jjeneral infirmities of age — I feel that I have 
become an incumbrance to the army as well as to myself, and that I 
ought, gvinig way to a younger commander, to seek the palliatives of 
physical pain and exhaustion. 

Accordingly I must beg the President, at the earliest moment, to 
allow me to be placed on the officers' retired list, and then quietly to lay 
myself up — probably for ever — somewhere in or about New York. But 
wherever I may spend my little remainder of life, my frequent and latest 
prayer will be — "God save the Union I" I have the honor to be. Sir, 
with high respect, 

Tour obedient servant, 

"^IV'iNFiELD Scott. 

GEX. m'cLELLAN to THE PRESIDENT. 

WASHiNGToy, Aug. 10, 18G1. 

The letter addressed by me under date of the 8th inst. to Lieutenant- 
General Scott, commanding the United States i\rmy, was designed to 
be a plain and respectful expression of my views of the measures de- 
manded for the safety of the Government in the imminent peril that be- 
sets it at the present hour. Every moment's reflection and every fact 
transpiring, convinced me of the urgent necessity of the measures there 
indicated, and I felt it my duty to him and to the country to communi- 
cate them frankly. It is therefore with great pain that I have learned 
from you this morning, that my views do not meet with the approbation 
of the Lieutenant-General, and that my letter is unfavorably regarded 
by him. The command with which I am intrusted was not sought by 
me, and has only been accepted from an earnest and humble desire to 
serve my country in the moment of the most extreme perU. "With these 
views I am willing to do and suffer whatever may be required for that 
service. Nothing could be farther from my wishes than to seek any 
command or urge any measures not required for the exigency of the 
occasion, and above all, I would abstain from any conduct that could 
give offence to General Scott or embarrass the President or any Depart- 
ment of the Government. 

Influenced by these considerations, I yield to your request and with- 
draw the letter referred to. The Government and my superior officer 
being apprised of what I consider to be necessary and proper for the 
defence of the National Capital, I shall strive faithfully and zealously to 
employ the means that may be placed in my power for that purpose, 
dismissing every personal feeling or consideration, and praying only the 



GENKKAT, BCOTT AND GENEKAL m'cLELLAN, 487 

blessing of Divine Proviilenoo on my efforts. I will only add that, as 
you requested my authority to withdraw the letter, that authority is 
hereby given, with the most profound assurance for General Scott and 
fourself. Very I'espcclfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Geohqe B. McClellan. 



GENERAL SCOTT TO THE PRESIDENT. 

"Washington, A^ig. 12, 1861. 

Sir: — On the 10th inst., I was kindly requested by the President to 
withdraw my letter to you, of the 9th, in reph' to one I had received 
from Major-General McClellan of the day before — the President at the 
same time showing me a letter to him from Major-General McClellan, 
in which, at the instance of the President, ho offered to withdraw the 
original letter on which I had animadverted. 

While the President was yet with mo, on that occasion, a servant 
handed me a letter, wliich proved to be an authenticated copy, under a 
blank cover, of the same letter from General McClellan to the President. 
This slight was not witiiout its influence on my mind. 

The President's visit, however, was for the jiatriotic purpose of heal- 
ing differences, and so much did I honor his motive that I deemed it due 
to him to hold his proposition under consideration for some Utile time. 

I deeply regret that, notwithstanding my respect for the opinions and 
wishes of the President, I cannot withdraw the letter in question, for 
tliese reasons: 

1. The original offence given to me by Major-General McClellan (see 
his letter of 8th inst.) seems to have been the result of deliberation be- 
tween him and some of the members of the Cabinet, by whom all the 
greater war questions are to be settled — without resort to or consulta- 
tion with mc, the nominal Goneral-in-Chief of the Army. In further 
proof of this neglect— although it is unofficially known that in the last 
week (six days) many reghnents have arrived and others have changed 
their position — some to a considerable distance — not one of these 
movements has been reported to mo (or any thing else) by Major-Gencral 
McClellan; while it is believed, and I may add known, that ho is in fre- 
quent communication with portions of the Cabinet, and on matters ap- 
pertaining to me. That freedom of access and consultation have, very 
naturally, deluded the junior Gencrtd into a feeUng of indifference to- 
wards his senior. 
21^ 



483 Al'FKXDIX. 

2. With such supports, on his part, it would i>o as idle for me, as it 
would be against the diixnity of ray years, to be filing daily complaints 
against an ambitious junior, who, independent of the extreme advan- 
tages alluded to, has, unquestionably, very high quahfications for military 
command. I trust they may acliieve crowning victories in behalf of the 
Union. 

3. I have, in my letter to you of the 9th inst., already said enough on 
the, to others, disgusting subject of my many physical infirmities. I 
will hero only add that, borne down as I am by them, I should un- 
avc'idably bo in the way, at head-quarters, even if my abilities for war 
were now greater than when I was young. 

I have tho honor to bo. Sir, with high respect, 
Your obedient servant, 

■WixFEELD Scott. 



A DRAFT URGED BY GENERAL McCLELLAN. 

General Scott, very soon after this correspondence, was 
allowed to retire from active service, in accordance witli Lis 
request, and General McClellan succeeded to the command of 
the Army of the Potomac. His attention was first given to 
recovering the disaster of Bull Run, and placing the army 
again on a footing for the speedy resumption of hostilities. 
The defeat of July, and the danger with which that defeat for 
the moment seemed to menace the capital, had aroused the 
most intense enthusiasm throughout the country, and volun- 
teers were pouring into Washington with great rapidity. 
Under these circumstances, General McClellan wrote to the 
President as follows : 

"WASniNGTON, August 20, 18G1. 
Sie: — I have just received tho inclosed dispatch in cipher. Colonel 
Marcy knows what ho says, and is of the coolest judgment. I recom- 
mend that tho Secretary of War ascertain at once by telegram how the 
enrollment proceeds in Xew York and elsewhere, and that, if it is not 



ox TIIK ADVANCE OF OUR ARMIES, 489 

proceeding with great rapidity, drafts to be made at once. "Wo muat 
have men without delay. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

George B. McClellak, Maj.-Gen. U. S. A. 

DISPATCH FROM COL. R. B. MARCY TO GENERAL m'cLELLAN. 

New York, August 20, 18G1. 
I urge upon you to make a positive and unconditional demand for an 
immediate draft of the addition;)! troops you require. Men will not vol- 
unteer now, and drafting is the only successful plan. The people will 
applaud such a course, rely upon it. I wiU be in Washington to-morrow. 

R. B. Marcy. 



THE PRBSIDEITT'S SUGGESTION FOR AN" ADVANCE IN 
DECEMBER, 1861. 

The following is a copy of a memorandum marked by the 
President, as having been made by him about the first of 
December, 1861. It was while the army under McClcllan was 
lying in front of Washington, and while the Government and 
the whole country were impatient for an advance upon the 
rebel army encamped at Manassas. 

If it were determined to make a forward movement of the Army 
of the Potomac, without awaiting further increase of numbers, or bet- 
ter driU and discipline, how long would it require to actually get in 
motion ? 

[Answer in pencil by McCleUan : " If bridge trains ready — by De- 
cember 15 — probably 25th."] 

After leaving all that would be necessary, how many troops could 
join the movement from southwest of the river? 

[Answer in pencil, "71,000."] 

How many from northwest of it ? 

[Answer in pencil, "33,000."] 

Suppose, then, that of those southwest of the river [supplied in 
pencil " 50,000,"] move forward and menace the enemy at Centerville? 

The remainder of the movable force on that side move rapidly to 
the crossing of the Occoquan by the road from Alexandria 'vowarda 



490 APPENDIX. 

Riclimond ; there to be joined by the whole movable force from north- 
east of the river, having landed from the Potomac just below the mouth 
of the Occoquan, move by land up the south side of that stream, to the 
crossing point named; then the whole move together, by the road 
thence to Brentville, and beyond, to the railroad just south of its cross- 
ing of Broad Run, a strong detachment of cavalry having gone rapidly 
ahead to destroy the railroad bridges south and north of the point. 

If the crossing of the Occoquan by those from above be resisted, 
those landing from the Potomac below to take the resisting force of the 
enemy in rear; or, if landing from, the Potomac be resisted, those 
crossing the Occoquan from above to take that resisting force in rear. 
Both points will probably not be successfully resisted at the same time. 
The force in front of Centerville, if pressed too hardly, should fight 
back into the intrenchments behind them. Armed vessels and trans- 
ports should remain at the Potomac landing to cover a possible retreat. 

The following reply is in General McClellan'.s handwriting — 
dated Wasliington, December 10, and marked '^confidential:'''' 

I inclose the paper you left with me — filled as you requested. In 
arriving at the numbers given I have left the minimum numbers in 
garrison and observation. 

Information recently leads me to believe that the enemy would meet 
us in front with equal forces nearly — and I have now my mind actually 
turned towards another plan of campaign that I do not think at all 
anticipated by the enemy, nor by many of our own people. 

George B. McClellan. 

This is doubtless in allusion to his project of transferring 
the army to the York River, and advancing upon Richaiond 
by that line. 



THE POSITION OF KENTUCKY. 
Reference is made on page 480 to the efforts of the Presi- 
dent to prevent Kentucky and other Border Slave States from 
joining the Rebel Confederacy. General McCIcHan, while in 
Command of the Department of the Ohio, had entered into an 
agreement with General Buckner by which the substantial 
neutrality of that State was recognized and resp(>cted. And 



TUE PRESIDEXT AND KKNTUCKT. 491 

in August, 1861, Governor MagolKn had urged the removal 
by the President of the Union troops which had been raised 
and were encamped within that State. 

To this request he received the following reply : 

Wasutxgton, D. C, August 24, 18G1. 
To His Excellency B. Magoffin, Governor of the State of Kentucky : 

Sir:— Your letter of the 19th inst., in which you " urge the removal 
from the limits of Kentucky of the mUitary force now organized and in 
camp witliin that State," is received. 

I may not possess full and precisely accurate knowledge upon this 
subject, but I believe it is true that there is a military force in camp 
within Kentucky, acting by authority of the United States, which force 
is not very large, and is not now being augmented. 

I also believe that some arms have been furnished to this force by 
the United States. 

I also bolievo that this force consists exclusively of Kentuckians, 
having their camp in the immediate vicinity of their own homes, and 
not assailing or menacmg any of the good peoiJe of Kentucky. 

In all I have done in the premises, I have acted upon the urgent 
solicitation of many Kentuckians, and in accordance with what I be- 
lieved, and still believe, to be the wish of a majority of all the Union- 
loving people of Kentucky. 

While I have conversed on the subject with many eminent men of 
Kentucky, including a large majority of her members of Congress, I do 
not remember that any one of them, or any other person, except your 
Excellency and the bearers of your Excellency's letter, has urged me to 
remove the military force from Kentucky or to disband it. One other 
very worthy citizen of Kentucky did solicit me to liave the augmenting 
of the force suspended for a time. 

Taking all the means within my reach to form a judgment, I do not 
believe it is the popular wish of Kentucky that the force shall be re- 
moved beyond her hmits ; and, with this impression, I must respectfully 
decline to remove it. 

I most cordially sympathize with your Excellency in the wish to 
preserve the peace of my own native State, Kentucky, but it is with re- 
gret I search for and cannot find, in your not very short letter, any de- 
claration or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservatioQ 
of the Federal Union, 

Abraham Lincouj. 



402 



THE PRESIDENT TO GENERAL McGLELLAN. 
President Lincoln addressed the following letter to General 
McClellan after the latter had landed his forces on the Penin- 
sula in the spring of 1862. It relates to several points in 
which the General's action had already excited a good deal 
of public uneasiness, and been made the subject of public com- 
ment, though the letter itself has never before been made 

public : 

Portress Monroe, May 9, 1862. 

My Dear Sir : — I have just assisted the Secretaiy of "War in forming 
the part of a dispntch to you, relating to army coq^s, which dispatch, 
of course, will have reached you long before this wiU. I wish to say 
a few words to you privately on this subject. I ordered the army corps 
organization not only on the unanimous opinion of the twelve generals 
of Qivision, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man 
I could get an opinion from, and every modern military book, yourself 
only excepted. Of course, I did not on my own judgment pretend to 
understand the subject. I now think it indispensable for you to know 
how your strugg-le against it is received in quarters which we cannot 
entirely disregard. It is looked upon as merely an effort to pamper ono 
or two pets, and to persecute and degrade their supposed rivals. I have 
had no word from Sumner, Heintzehnan or Keyes. The commanders 
of these corps are of course the three highest ofHcers with you, but I 
am constantly told that you have no consultation or communication 
with them, that you consult and communicate with nobody but Fitz 
John Porter, and perhaps General Franklin. I do not say tliese com- 
plaints are true or just ; but, at all events, it is proper you should know 
of their existence. Do the commanders of corps disobey your orders 
in any tiling ? 

When you relieved General TTamilton of his command the other day, 
yon thereby lost the confidence of at least ono of your best friends in 
the Senate. And here let me say, not as applicable to you personally, 
that Senators and Representatives speak of me in their places as they 
please ■ndthout question ; and that officers of the army must cease ad- 
dressing insulting letters to them for taking no greater liberty with 
them. But to return, are you strong enough, even with my help, to 
set your foot upon the neck of Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes, all at 
once? This is a practical and very serious question for j'ou. 

Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 



INDEX. 



Arbitrary Arrests, action of fJovern- 

Arlvansas, Presi'l ■ i- i. r. - • i ( ieneral 
Steele, 455; I'l ... -uy about 
Convention, 4.'>!l : ; ;, ,.,1 adop- 

tion of a Free friuiu C..a.-niiuu)n, 457. 



Banks, tal^es Port llmlsoii, I'!';?; prnolnm- 
ation for an elciti.i 'n I . : ' ,. ,. I.".'. 

Battle of Bull liuu/r. _ i i : ; /, ; 
burij, 235; of -. .. , i . : ' i 

Gales, 244; of J-"i . .1. ii' i--' i . u: :■,''.: ..i 
Ccttvsbur- 371); (.f Vickshm- MSJ ; 
iif 'fulUiiioiiia, 3SS; of Chattanoogi^ 
:;>'.( ; (liti-at nt Olustee, 453. 

illair, F. P. .Ir., reappointment as Major- 
Grneral. 4.3t). 

Border States, reply of the members to 
^ President's address, 192; Hon. Mr. 
Maynard's reply, 194. 

Buchanan, otlicial action on Secession, 
56; last message, 03; dissolution of 
his Cabinet, 64; message on Secession, 
65. 

Burnside, General, succeeds McClellan 
in Army of Potomac, 281 ; battle of 
Fredericksburg, 376 ; arrests Vallan- 
digham, 351 ; second attempt on Fred- 
ericksburg, 377 ; relieved from com- 

. mand. Sit ; defence of Kuoxville, 390. 



Cabinet, dissolution of Buchanan's, 64; 
organization of Lincoln's, 121 ; resigna- 
tion of Secretary Cameron, 205. 

Cameron, resignation of, as Secretary of 
War, 203: President's message con- 
cerning, 205. 

Colonization, President's views on, 1S4; 
President's interview with colored 
men on, 46S; attempts to colonize New 
Grenada, 472 ; colony to Isle a Vache, 
473. 

Ciilt;ix. til iti (1 Speaker of House of Eep- 
iTM-iitativL-s, 416. 

C(ini|.roriii.sp. Crittenden's, 60; special 
coiiiiLiittec of Congress on, 6S; report 
of resolutions by committee, 68 ; adop-. 
tiou of the resolutions, 70. 



Confederacy— organization of the Pet.ol 
Government, 59; objects of tlie Cmi- 
feileracy stated by Mr. Stephens, 62. 

Confiscation Bill, 153; debate in Con- 
gress on, 196; its provisions, 199; 
siipplcmontary resolution, 200 ; ines- 
sa-c approving, 201. 

Congress, appoints committee on Com- 
priimisi-, iJ-> ; adoption of Couipromisu 
r : ii 111. TO; action on amemlment 
I I :i.>n, 70; action on Critten- 

I : rii and Puace Conference, 

1': ni. ,ii;_' in extra Session, July 4, 
IMJl, l.;>; adoption of resolution on 
the objects of the War, 152; bill.i .m 
confiscation — employment of slaves, 
153; meeting in December, ISO], 162; 
effect of Bull lluu defeat on legislative 
action of, ISl ; abolishes slavery in 
Territories, 1S3; abolishes slavery in 
District Columbia, 1S3; approves com- 
pensated emancipation, 186; debate on 
Confiscation Bill, 196; the Currency 
Bill, 195; meeting, December, 1562, 
308; debate on arbitrary arrests, 327; 
admission of members from Louisiauii, 
836; meeting, December, IsO^J, 410; 
debates ot^ 1863, 434 ; action on slavery, 
435; passage of Conseriiition Bill, 3.1L 

Constitution, amendment forbidding in 
terference with sla\icry, 70; amend- 
ment abolishing slavery, 435. 

Crittenden Compromise, 60; resolution 
declaring the objects of the War, l.V_'. 

Curtis, General, appointed to command 
in Missouri, 398 ; his removal, 399. 



Democratic Party, its position at time of 
election, 1800,54; success in State elec- 
tions of 1862, defeat in 1863, 414. 



England, instructions to our Minister at 
outbreak of the Kebellion. 133; protest 
against her recognition of the Bebels 
as belligerents, 135; the Trent alfuir, 
102 ; stoppage of rebel rams, 441. 

Emanciiution. President's reply to Chi- 
cago Committee on, 212 ; Proclamatioq 



494 



of September, 1S62, 215; Proclamation 
of January, 16(53, 218; in Missouri, 
397. 
Elcciion of President, 53; State elec- 
tions of 1S62, State elections of ISfri, 
414. 



rremont, appointed to Department of 
the West, order of emancipation, 393; 
President's revocation of order, 161 ; 
removal from command of 'Western 
Di-partmeiil, 31*4; agreement with 
Price. 394; popular demonstrations in 
favor of, 396 ; asks to be relieved, '263. 

Fiance, otter of mediation, 297 ; reply of 
Mr. Seward, 298; om- relations with, 
444. 

Klori<la, expedition of General Gillmorc. 
457 ; defeat at Olustee, 458. 



Greeley, President Lincoln's letter to, 
210. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 379 ; President's 
proclamation of victory, 881; dedica- 
tion of Cemetery, Ssl. 

Grant, General, siege and capture of 
Vicksburg, 3s2; appointment as Lieu- 
teaant-General, 436. 



Hunter, General, bis order abolishing 
slavery in South Carolina, 188; Lin- 
coln's letter to, in Mi-ssouri, 394. 

Halleclv,,letter to McClellan on the neces- 
sity of aiding Pope. '-'Iji); letter about 
his leaving fhe P. :i'- ■'>•„'■■"• ii-drrs 
McClellan to adv/i ; iin, 

280; letter about 1 .: -'. 

Habeas Corjius. Hr>i i - ^ ,-|K-n- 

sion, 841; arni-M . ; : i,.-. . runicnt, 
339; pror:.i:: ;.- mling, 34^; 

proclaniati' :. 'iT. 

Hooker, Gi-ii.',; - - .■•■ ■ ;- i.i-neral Burn- 
side in Ariiiv ni I'diomac, 377; is re- 



Irom < 



Invasion — proposed rebel invasion of the 
North, 129; invasion of Pennsylvania 
bj' General Lee, 373. 



Kilpatrick — raid to liichmond, 459. 
Kno.wille, siege of, raised, 390. 



Lincoln, Abraham, life and career, 18; 
nomination at Chic;igo, 45; election to 
the Presidency, &i; speech at Spring- 
field, 78; at Tolouo, 79; at Indiana- 
polis. 79; before Legislature of Indi- 
ana, SO; at Cincinnati, 81 ; at Columbus, 
83; atStenbenville, 84; at Pittsburg, 84 ; 
before Common Council of Pittsburg, 



85; at Cleveland, 83; at Buffalo, 89; at 
Eochester, 91 ; at Urica, 92 ; at Albany, 
92; at Troy, 94; at Hudson. 95; at 
Poughkeepsie, 95; at Peekskill, 96; at 
Astor House, New York, 96; to lie- 
publican Association, 97; at City Hall, 
yj; at .Jrrs^-v Citv. loii; at Ni-wark, 
lii i: .,-■ li, ii:..,a. iM] ; :,i ! 'Niia.lrlphia, 
I . -: I 1 , , '<■ : : : ■ i; , . 1M4; at 
I. . .';: ,; li ,, A-z. 100; 

a: \i ; -,• ■,_:■.'!. l"!' : ai \\",.-liington, 
ahoiit Me'.. K-llaii, 2sG; at serenade in 
Wa.sliiiii.'ton. Sept 24. 1*62, 306; at fair 
in Washington, 465; at fair in Balti- 
more, 466; to workingmen of New 
York, 463; at Gettysburg. 381; at 
Washington, on victories of Gettys- 
burg and Vicksburg, 385; departure 
fur W;ishiugti)n. Kis;" inauguration, 111; 
inaugural address, 112; message, extra 
Session, July, l8i;i. 13,s; First Annual 
Mi'ssage. I)ci-., isCl. KS; message rec- 
ommeuiliii-' ai 1 : ■. S!:i! - . ui .n.-ipating 
slaves. 1-1 : : - i,,- bill 

to aboli-;. ~ 1 . ' I I, . , of Co- 

lumbia. 1-1 ; 111 a_' ip;.] u\ i;iu' confis- 
cation bill. 'Jill ; message uii blockade 
of Southern ports, 208 ; second annual 
message, 1862, 308; message recom- 
mending aid for iiiiaiicii.aiion. 319; 
niess.age on the imh r.i.' : ._' : third an- 
nual message. 1-'- . : ujjation 
for 75,000 troops. 1_ . : .. I- • ....ir, 128; 
revoking Gen. lluui.i'.s ..j.;.!-. ISS; of 
emancipation, Sc|)ti'iiiber, iso^, 215; of 
emancipation. January, Isiy, 218; for 
Thanksgiving. April U). Is02, 2^9; to 
the rebels, 294; concerning the Sab- 
bath, 306; suspending habeas corpus, 
S4S, 367; about national forces bill, 
369; of victory at Gettysburg, 381; 
for Thanksgiving, July, 1863, 3s6; 
Thanksiriviiis for victories in East 
Tennessee, 390; Thanksgiving, Oct. 3, 
ls63, 390; •i''('cl''""!'tion of amnesty, 
4-iO ; explanatory proclamation of am- 
nesty, 433; for 300.000 volunteers, 486; 
letlt-r to Gov. Hicks, of .\ld., 125; to 
Gov. liradtoio, of Md., 126; to Gen. 
Fremont revoking his order, 161 ; to 
H. Greeley, 210; to McCK llan eoncern- 
ino- an advance on Kichmoiid, 224; to 
M.tTM.n :;), ,-.,r r.;iiii-n- P.lenker, 
--:v ; . M^'';. :: ::i .'•■• ■ -:• -.:!iofhis 
ar . J; i W • • ,: M.'Dow- 
.•11. ■_■ ., ; ;.. \1 ■. :, la,. ,'.-;i uuhhold- 
inu- .Nicltowcll, ■-'10; to .Mc( Uil.in about 
Jackson, 241 ; to .UcCKIIaM alxiut Han- 
over Junction, 243 ; in nplv to McClel- 
lan, 250; about rc-ciifon-.in, Ills after 
seven days" battl«>. .' '■. ^la. . -i.-cnsth 
of .McClellansanii), 1- . - ^1 - iirllan 
after An tietain. .'■;:■. : M ' ui aliout 
h..rses, 28:3; toF.iMiMi-. >\ ■ :,::_;»,•); to 
committee of Albany meeting, 354; to 
committee of Ohio Convention. 862; to 



495 



Gov. Sermoiir on the draft. 372 ; second 
lettei on same subject, 374; dispatches 
to Chicatro, 375; k-ttcr of thanks to 
< .'II. ' .iu.i;. :>••: ■ ■ I . :i. Hunter on 

I !':■:-- ■ -i I ■■• . -uiri, 394: to 



• ; tlichts 



is. 411 ; 



I' M quarrels m 
• n ronvention in 
iriit of boaiuies, 
•r-s; t'l tl.mse cii licpiesentatives on 
Glii. Klair, 439; on aiding people of 
Kasl Tennessee, 440; to editor of N. A. 
Ee view, 449; to Gov. Shepley on elect- 
ing ineuibers of Congn-ss in l.,a., 4i)2 ; 
to Gen. Steele, of Arkansas. 455; about 
Arkansas Convention, 456; to Gen. 
GiUmore about Florida, 457; to work- 
ingmen of Manchester, 4G1 ; to work- 
iui'uien of London, 462; to working- 
mm of N. Y., 463 ; to Chri.-^tian Com- 
mission. 465; to Mr. IIod<:e. of Ken- 
tucky, 4S1 ; to Gov. Mairoinn. of Ky. 
(App ). 492; to Gen. McCiellan on the 
formation of armv co,|,s (App.). 494; 
intirvi.u- with authnriti.-.^ of JJd., 12T; 
address to meuibeis i.:' Consrress from 
Border St;ates. 190; reply t<i Commis- 
sioners of Virginia, 131 ; remarks on ar- 
rest of Md. Legislature, 344; draft of a 
bill to aid emancipation, 194; reply to 
ChicaiTo committee on emancii)ation of 
slaves. 212; interview with radicals of 
Missoiiii. 400; reappointment of Gen. 
Blair, 439 ; declines to recognize Em- 
pire of Mexico, 447; theory of recon- 
struction, 449; reply to a|)plication of 
Louisiana planters, 454 ; interview with 
colored men at Washington, 46S; mem- 
oninda concerning an advance of the 
armies in 1S61, (App.) 481 ; order for 
advance of U. S. armies, 223; for ad- 
vance of Army of I'otomac, 224; to 
leave Washington properly defended, 
226; authorized to issue letters of 
marque, 3:37 ; general estimate of his 
policy. 476. 
Louisiana, admission of members of Con- 
gress, 336 ; movements for reorganiza- 
tion, 452 ; President's letter to Gov. 
Shepley, 452; application for authority 
to calla Convention, 453; application 
of planters to the President, 453 ; Pres- 
ident's reply, 454 ; Gen. Banks's pro- 
clamation ordering an election, 454; 
election of Gov. Hahn, 455. 



Magruder. the rebel general's report of 
rebel strength at Yorktown, 233. 

Maryland, passage of troops through Bal- 
timore, 125 : "President's correspond- 
ence with Gov. Ilieks, 125; President's 
interview with authorities, 127 ; arrest 
of members of the Legislature, 344. 

Maynard, Hon. Horace, reply to Presi- 
dent's address on emancipation, 194. 



Meade, Gen., succeeds Hooker 
at Gettysburg, 3sO. 

Mexico, the new empire. 4-W; Mr. Sew- 
anl's letter on. 445; I'resident declines 
to recognize, 447; res<dution of llunse 
of Kepresentatives. 44b. 

McCiellan, appointed commandcr-in- 
clr.f. 222; report of rebel streisgtl- at 
Yorktown, 230: movement to the 
Chickaliomiii}-, 236; reports of Wil- 
liamsburg, 2:35; wants MeDowell to 
join him by water, 23S : letter of ad- 
vice to the President, 256; ordered to 
withdraw from the Peninsnhi, 259; or- 
dered to superintend forwarding of re- 
enforcemenls to Pope, 263; his failure 
to aid I'ope, 264; stiirgests that Pope 
be left to "get out of liis scrape,"' 271 • 
stops Franklin's advance, 272; failure 
to pursue Lee after Antietam, 279- 
ordered to advance, 2S0 ; letter to Pres- 
ident about Gen. Scott, 4sS; advises a 
draft in 1S61, 490. 

Missouri, condition of the State at out- 
break of the rebellion, 892; emancipa- 
tion in, 39T; appointment of Gen. Cur- 
tis, 39S; President's dispatch about, 
398 ; Gen. Schofield's appointment, 399 ; 
President's instructions to, 407 ; his 
removal, 408; President's interview 
■with radicals of, 401 ; abolition of slave- 
ry in, 401 ; mass convention, 402 ; Pres- 
ident's letter to Mo. committee, 403; 
President's letter on church contests, 
404; President's letter to Gen. Hunter, 



National Milttia — passage of the con- 
scriiPtion bill, 331 ; its provisions, 86S; 
PrisiiKiit's proclamation conceuiiDj, 

:;f.;i: -i- ;: .;,.! riots in N. Y., 871 ; Gov. 
>' : spondence with the 

I'l : : President's dispatches 



Ohio— nomination of Vallandigham for 
Governor, 862; his defeat, 414. 



Peace Conference, its action, 71 ; action 
of Congress on it, 76. 

Presidential Election, popular and elec- 
toral vote, 55. 



Reconstruction, President's movements 
towards and message on, 416; letter 
to N. A. Review, 449 ; proclamation 
for,451 ; movements towards, in Louisl- 
.■ina,452; movements in Arkansas, 457. 

Eiots in N. Y., 87L 



Scott, retirement of General. 150; letter to 



490 



Secretary of War about McClcllan 
(App.), 487 ; second letter on same sub- 
ject, 4S9. 

Schofieltl, appointment to 'Western De- 
partment, 399 ; President's instructions 
to, 407 ; removal from connmand, 408. 

Secession conspiracy at Washington. 58; 
Mr. Steplicns's speech asrainst \t, 60. 

Secession of South Carolina, 57. 

Secession of Yirginia, 132. 

Seward, instructions to our minister in 
England, 183 ; reply to French offer of 
meciiation. 298 ; dip'lomacy of 1863,441 ; 
letter, to Mr. Adams on danger of war 
with England, 442 ; letter on the Mex- 
ican question. 44.'). 

So\inour, Gov. of N. Y., correspondence 
witli President on the draft. 372. 

Sh<'rm.an, General, expedition from 
Vicksburg. 459. 

Slavery and Slaves — relations of slavery 
to the rebellion, 1.51; employment of 
slaves, bill in regard to. 153 ; Pi esideiit"s 
views regarding fugitive slaves, 15S; 
abolition in Tt-rritories. IS:?: nbnlition 
in Distri-t'.f c.liiml.i'i. ^^■^■. r.><..l.ni..ii 

approvi— r-. -.'. • f.. ....'^.. ..■■ 

eman<-iiv : .-n ;;: '..■ ■ >■:,.;•; i ■-, 
in botli Mi,-.-. : :. ,, _ . ,;,. pr- 
ized to In- r,ii|.lu.wil ill .inii.\, m-i; ac- 
tion of military commanders concern- 
ing, 291 ; Halleck's letter about slaves, 
293. 

Sbit.'s, relation of rebel States to the 
general government, 329. 

State Prisoners, executive order relative 



to, 345; order releasing, 850; appoint- 
ment of a commission on, 347; case of 
Vallandigham, 351. 

Stephens, A. II., speech against seces- 
sion, 60; statement of objects of the 
Confederacy, C2. 

Sumter, bombardment of Fort, 122. 



Taussig, James, his account of an inter- 
view with the President, 401. 



Vallandigham, his arrest, trial, and sen- 
tence, 351 ; President's letter to Alba- 
ny meeting concernins, 354 ; Presi- 
dent's letter to Ohio meeting concern- 
ing, 862 ; nominated for Governor of 
Ohio. 362 ; is defe.ited, 414. 

Vicksbnrg — siese and surrender, 3S2. 

Virginia, secession of, 132 ; Lincoln's 
reply to commissioners, LSI ; admis- 
sion of Western Virginia, 334. 



Wnr — "^vitf-iinilen resolntion declaring its 

'"» . I' iiient — order for protection 

■ i, -> .i!i,"on, 228; order for seizure 
ol icncl property, 294. 

Torktown— McClellan's report of rebel 
strength, 2;30 ; Magruder's report, 233 ; 
evacuation ot 234 



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